10 Movies Designed To Give You An Existential Crisis

2. The Truman Show

There are films which make you think about what you're doing with your life, and then there are films which cause you to ponder whether your life might in fact be a lie.

A year before The Matrix forced everyone to consider the possibility they were living in a simulation, The Truman Show touted an arguably more sinister prospect, with protagonist Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey) being the unwitting, unaware participant in a meticulously staged 24/7 reality TV show.

Beyond the fact that The Truman Show predicted the reality TV boom with an eerie prescience, it also prompted viewers to meditate on the nature of their own reality, and what "reality" as a concept even means.

We've all experienced moments that just seem a little off - a most implausible coincidence or the feeling that we're being watched - and while few of us will take that to mean we're actually living in a curated world, it does nevertheless provide anxious food for thought.

But beyond that, there is in fact the "Truman Show delusion," a mental condition in which patients believe they are the protagonist of a reality TV show.