The Truman Show

It’s been long since a film thrilled me this much. Funny, poignant, original; perfect, really. The premise exploits the contrast between utopia (Truman’s artificial but safe and carefree life) and anti-utopia (the TV mogul controlling human lives from an almost god-like position while people watch it without complaints). Although both have a common basis: the absence of the right to be freely happy or unhappy, they have two very different causes: Truman is denied this right from above, while the viewers don’t give a toss about it, for them it’s enough that Truman is enjoying this right, even though he doesn’t actually have it, which puts us in a vicious circle where nobody is free, but nobody cares. How much this situation reminds us of our world, that’s up to each one of you. The Truman Show offers a lot of food for thought in an entertaining package, and I love it. 100% (28/12/2008)

Touching, funny, poignant - all together and perfectly executed. I don't know how Americans, as a TV nation, viewed it, but given the decent box office returns, they probably liked it. I would love to play this movie for the soap opera addicts to enjoy as well. You can see them in the perfectly staged shots of loyal TV viewers - the two old ladies hugging couldn’t have been better. But they might not get it... "What is Lima doing again? Change the channel, this is awful." (21/07/2002)

Peter Weir is truly a director with capital D and here he has created one of the most original films of all time. Such a range of emotions, so many fantastically written and even better acted characters and, last but not least, a story that you might hate at first, but will gradually come to love and by the end you will never want to see another film again – something like this really doesn't just fall out of the sky. And the ending was simply perfect in every way and immediately ranks among the best I've seen so far – I didn't know whether to rejoice, cry or just stare and enjoy what was happening in front of me. All I know is that The Truman Show is one of those films that made FilmBooster possible and that people will continue to watch for a long time, and that will always leave the same unrepeatable impression on them. MY APPLAUSE!! (05/06/2012)

Making a movie about a reality show that follows somebody’s life from the moment of his birth is an idea worth a million. And with somebody of Weir’s caliber in the director’s chair, it’s worth two. It succeeds in sucking you into the life of Truman Burbank which is suddenly crossed by another storyline (the subject of which is obvious, but it’s till a spoiler) after about two hours of the movie. It’s funny, but at the same time chilling how everybody apart from Carrey performs like straight out of a telenovela, casually interjecting advertising slogans and so on. This is a really emotionally charged movie. And it has a wonderful soundtrack from Glass and the movie becomes ever more powerful every time you watch it again. Who wouldn’t root for Truman in his quest for freedom? So I say to you, Truman, if we never see each other again: “Good afternoon, good evening and good night!" (15/08/2004)

Spoiler... A film whose main theme is our own perspective. Limiting it to the phenomenon of a reality show and tabloids is superficial. Niccol's script focuses much more on how we construct ourselves as subjects, how we build our own perception of reality, our own identity. Peter Weir subtly captures this finesse, plays with the viewer, and is consistently ironic. The ending forced me to make a triumphant gesture - if anyone considers it a happy ending, he has clearly been the victim of his own The Truman Show. This is reality as we know it and accept it... The point of the film is not that Truman finds his exit, but that our exit is still far-off. "We accept the reality of the world with which we are presented. It's as simple as that." The entire Truman Show is built on this principle reflected in its form (consistently within limits of possibilities). (24/10/2011)