Truman Burbank lives an idyllic life until small and unsettling details suggest that nothing around him is accidental. Gradually discovering he is the unwitting star of a global television show, Truman must decide whether to remain safely scripted or risk the unknown.

Featuring a career-defining performance by Jim Carrey, the film explores surveillance, media ethics and manufactured reality years before reality television dominated culture. Blending humour with quiet unease, The Truman Show unfolds as both a personal awakening and a sharp critique of manufactured reality. Thought-provoking yet warmly human, it stands as a landmark of late-20th-century cinema, which continues to resonate in the age of social media.

‘The film works because it never forgets that its high-concept satire depends on Truman’s inner life, not its cleverness.’ – Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

Presented on 35mm film prints from the NFSA collection.