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1-Page Summary of Truman
Overview
Christof, the creator of “The Truman Show,” says that even though everything in Truman’s life is fake, his emotions are real. His wife and best friend support this statement. Meanwhile, Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey) does not realize that he lives on a television studio under a dome or that 5,000 hidden cameras document his life 24/7. He is one of the biggest TV stars in the world without knowing it.
Truman is a cheerful insurance adjustor with a pretty wife. One day, he hears the sound of something falling from above but it’s explained away as nothing to worry about. Later, Truman tries to make contact with someone named Lauren or Sylvia Garland by phone, but can’t find her. At work, his boss tells him to go meet a client on Wells Island and take the ferry there; however Truman is afraid of water so he doesn’t do it.
Truman tells his friend Marlon about a dream he had to go somewhere else. However, Marlon convinces him that life on the island is great and he should stay there. Later in bed, Truman remembers his father drowning at sea and realizes what’s happening with the rain falling just on him. He tries to convince Meryl to leave her house as well but she dismisses it as absurd because of their financial situation.
The next day, Truman sees a man who looks exactly like his father. He approaches the man and before he can speak to him, people take him away on a bus. Later that night, Truman visits Angela (his mother) and tells her about the encounter. She dismisses it as an illusion stemming from losing his father. In his basement, he goes through some keepsakes when he finds a red sweater belonging to Sylvia or Lauren (a woman in high school). The writers of “The Truman Show” tried to keep them apart because they knew she was perfect for him but Meryl was supposed to be his wife so they did everything possible to keep them apart. One night while at the beach with Sylvia/Lauren, she tries telling Truman that she’s really named Sylvia and wanted to tell him something important one time but couldn’t get her words out before being taken away by someone saying she’s insane and is moving overseas with her family. At this point viewers are still invested in their relationship even though everyone knows it won’t happen since it wasn’t part of the show’s original plotline anyway; just like how Truman himself had been hoping for something more than what he already has since childhood despite knowing better all along
The next day, Truman hears the production crew talking about him on his radio. He begins to worry and is paranoid that he’s going crazy. The announcer assures him that it was just a police scanner interfering with their signal. Truman decides not to go into work because of this incident, but wanders around Seahaven instead, noticing things for the first time like extras eating in an elevator shaft or buses stopping for him when he crosses the street. He tries to talk to Marlon but Marlon thinks he’s unraveling and ignores him completely. The next morning, Truman follows Meryl to work again and forces her and other actors playing doctors into doing a fake surgery while recording them on camera as if they’re really performing surgery until she finally tells him that she’ll be leaving soon for Fiji where her new film is being shot so she can’t continue seeing each other anymore before leaving in tears from his constant stalking.
Even after Truman realizes that he’s in Seahaven, his attempts to leave are rebuffed by Christof. Among other things, Christof insists on seeing him engage in activities that no one else can see and notices many inconsistencies about Meryl. When they get back to the house, Truman hides a knife behind himself and asks Meryl about her scripted lines from commercials. He gets so frustrated with Meryl’s life that he threatens her with the knife; however, Marlon comes over at just the right time and protects her from harm while calling out Truman for behaving unprofessionally toward their guest star (Meryl).
