How's it going to end?

Rating: 10/10 (16 February 2002)

(Warning: spoilers ahead) For me, The Truman Show is as close to a perfect movie as you are likely to get: not only it provides you with abundant food for thought, but also it is beautiful to see and very, very entertaining. It goes beyond the simple speculation about the value of privacy and the lack of ethics in the entertainment business, but it leads to ponder about weightier things, for instance the matter of a sheltered but not very interesting life vs. a life of adventure with nothing guaranteed. Also, the reason why utopias don't work: Christof thinks that a world that resembles a fifties movie is the perfect world, whereas Truman's dream is to explore some South Pacific island never visited by man. And, of course, the quest for truth vs. a beautiful lie: In his obstinate search for the true world, Truman understands that truth's beauty surpasses any lie, no matter how shiny or cozy.
The movie is full of visual beauty, especially towards the end, when the "perfect" world starts to unravel with Truman's flight. The Magrittesque images of the moon-as-a-spotlight, the boat ramming the sky and Truman walking on water to a staircase apparently suspended above the horizon are the kind of thing that you just can't forget.
Jim Carrey plays a perfect Truman, innocent but also determined. In fact it is hard to imagine another actor playing this role. Ed Harris is also perfect, truly frightening in a role that would have looked ridiculous in the hands of a lesser actor. Laura Linney, as Truman's dimple-cheeked "wife" plays very well the sinister side of her character.
Of course, everyone is free to dislike this movie, but there are some things I'd like to say about the negative comments: to begin with, lots of people wondered about the possibility of anyone wanting to see a TV program like this... The only thing I have to say about this is that I'm surprised at how fast (only within a couple of years) this objection has become irrelevant. The other objection was about the movie's allegedly "happy" ending. I don't think the ending is "happy": Truman and Sylvia disappear both through dark doorways, and, although we are free to imagine that they will eventually be together and happy living in Fidji, we don't know if this is really what will happen. But this is the point, isn't it, not to know how's it going to end?