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What are the 3 components of the movie's Magic Trick

posted 8 years ago by qotsa101
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Just watched this movie for the first time in about 10 years, and wow it holds up.

While there is still some debate here of magical vs realistic, the fact that it can still incite such passion is a testament to the filmmaking.

What is clear by the narration is that Nolan wants you to think of the movie in terms of the three aspects of a magic trick: The Pledge, the Turn, and The Prestige.

So I ask you, in clear cut terms, what are the three aspects of the film? I have some ideas, but would love to hear what everyone thinks.

What are:

The Pledge: Two magicians become rivals after a botched magic trick kills one of their wives. They try over years to one-up each other?

The Turn: The two magicians are able to dissapear and re-appear without explanation?
Where as a good turn almost always amazes an audience, the magicians themselves cannot understand the explanation for each other's turns. (Except for Cutter, who explains Borden's secret at the beginning of the film, but Angier looks for something deeper....hm sounds familiar as I type this)

The Prestige: Borden is "Brought back" from death when his secret is revealed to Angier, that he has a twin brother. Angier...well, there did seem to be something going on with that last scene in the tank, didn't there?

Now you're looking for the secret. But you won't find it because of course, you're not really looking. You don't really want to work it out. You want to be fooled.

But Mr. Nolan I do not want to be fooled, I want to know!! Are we the subjects of a decade long magic trick? Perhaps not is all as it seems after all.

[–] the-author 8 years ago

You're right about the prestige...Angier comes back from the dead, first to Borden in the prison, then to Cutter at his estate. Borden reappears to Angier at his theater, gun in hand, then appears to his daughter at the end.

Both men have become murderers. Angier got Fredrick Borden hung for a crime he didn't commit (although his knot led to Angier's wife drowning) and if you worked it out, Angier killed 102 of his own selves. Borden shoots Angier to avenge his brother's death.

Borden's little girl is delighted and entertained as Cutter makes the bird disappear and reappear. She doesn't know, unlike Sarah's nephew, that the cute little bird was crushed and a similar bird was substituted to trick her.

I think at the turn, you start believing that Borden has a twin, but many are thrown off when Olivia reveals that it is the same man because he is missing two fingers. (Yes, some of us worked it out easily because Nolan gave us the hint). I think the turn for Angier is when you start to believe that Borden and Tesla may have conspired to trick Angier out of his money, until you see the two cats. (Cool foreshadow in that the cats hiss at one another.)

By the way, whether deliberate or not, you have been fooled as the goldfish bowl trick is not done in that manner. It was and still is one of the most secretive tricks in all of magic. Penn and Teller have done a similar trick, but it is a little bit different.

Best unknown feature at IMDB.com
http://www.imdb.com/features/video/browse/