Full Review of The Prestige

“The rivalry between two magicians is exacerbated when one of them performs the ultimate illusion” (IMDB The Prestige).

The Prestige opens with a shot of the ground littered with black top hats while a narrator asks, “Are you watching closely?” Even as the movie begs the audience to watch closely, most viewers ignore this opening shot as nothing more than an artistic and symbolic way of beginning a movie rather than an actual part of the plot. The Prestige tells the story of two magicians whose brutal competition becomes their obsession, sacrificing much of their lives to the pursuit of each other’s destruction. The film, directed by Christopher Nolan,  demands full attention in order to understand it’s sprawling storyline. The narrative is non-linear and seemingly random at some points. One of the firsts scenes in the movie,  a murder scene, does not actually take place chronologically until the end of the story. Following this scene, a magician named Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) sits in his jail cell and reads the diary of the magician he killed, Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman). This is where the film begins a flashback and tells the story of Angier. In this flashback, Robert Angier reads Alfred Borden’s diary, starting another flashback telling his story. Essentially, the film is a diary within a diary. As complicated as this sounds, the storytelling in The Prestige is the film’s best success. It is edited in such a way that the narrative jumps and flashbacks never confuse the audience. It flows beautifully. The Prestige is a masterpiece due to its clever storytelling, its astounding atmosphere, and its stellar cast.

Through the reading of the diaries, the audience learns the story of Borden and Angier: they once were friends who worked together under the employment of an experienced magician. One day, during a show, Borden accidentally kills Angier’s wife when a water-escape trick went horribly wrong. The friends part ways and start performing as rival stage magicians. Angier, livid and grieving over his wife’s death, becomes obsessed with embarrassing Borden by figuring out his tricks and sabotaging them, causing Borden to retaliate and do the same. Eventually, Borden performs a trick that no one can figure out: he transports himself from one side of the stage to the other in an instant. Angier becomes consumed with duplicating Borden’s trick. He believes that the answer is to go to a scientist named Nikola Tesla and to have him build a machine that is able to transport matter. Angier pours all his money into the project, devoting months of his life to the construction of the machine.

Nikola Tesla, played by David Bowie, is a brilliant scientist and inventor who tries to build a transporter machine for Angier. After months of taking Angier’s money to fund the construction of the machine, Tesla seems to have made no progress in its creation. While David Bowie’s portrayal of Tesla is interesting, there was wasted opportunity in his character. The real Nikola Tesla, an actual brilliant scientist, was a very eccentric and strange man who was known to be  obsessed with cleanliness, always wearing gloves and never shaking hands with anyone. On the other hand, Bowie’s representation of the man is normal, calm, and wise. A more bizarre Tesla could have made for a more interesting character, however, Bowie’s Tesla did help simplify the film’s already complicated and character-filled narrative.

With the introduction of Tesla, the film quickly becomes science fiction. Many reviewers of the movie believe that this is a cheat: sci-fi completely ruins the legitimacy of the illusions in the film (Fibbs). They believe that once real teleportation is a possibility, all of the seriousness of the movie is pointless. However, this viewpoint does not make much sense. The presence of science fiction does not negate the reality of the themes and ideas presented in The Prestige. The obsessions are still just as extreme, the sacrifices are still just as real, and the illusions are still just as clever. In essence, the introduction of sci-fi is merely a distraction from the real twists and secrets of the story. It is the misdirection in this magic trick of a film.

The cinematography is one of the strongest elements of the film; it boosts the atmospheric and gloomy mood created by the story and creates a dark, mysterious image. Wally Pfister, who received an Academy Award nomination for his cinematography work in The Prestige, lit most of the shots very dimly, throwing the actors into shadow. The camera work is also excellent, implementing slow, smooth dolly shots to further create an atmosphere of dread and creepiness that permeates the film.

The soundtrack, composed by David Julyan, also complements the dark atmosphere of the film. Unfortunately, it is not something that anyone would want to listen outside of the context of the movie. It is droning, ambient and tuneless. It is not necessarily a bad soundtrack; it does enhance the viewing of the film. However, it is unrecognizable, boring, and one of the weakest components of the movie. It’s certainly not the score from Indiana Jones or Star Wars.

The Prestige is unrelentingly serious and dark. The audience never gets a break from all of the one-upmanship, violence, and death. The movie takes itself very seriously as a real look into human obsession and sacrifice. The only humor in the film is provided by Root, a drunk look-alike of Robert Angier (both of which are played by Hugh Jackman).

The cast of the movie is outstanding. Most notable is Jackman’s performance as one of the main characters, Robert Angier. Jackman is quite believable as a rich magician with an obsession. When Angier learns that he has been wasting his money and that Tesla’s machine is not the secret to Borden’s trick, the agony in his face is clear. Without a word of dialogue, it is easy to tell in this moment of realization just how painful it is for Angier to learn this news. Christian Bale as Alfred Borden is also fantastic. Borden is fickle and moody, one day being a loving, caring husband and the next day being cruel and more in love with magic than with his wife. Christian Bale plays the character solidly and is completely believable as the poor yet talented magician. Michael Caine plays a notable character named Cutter, who helps Angier design tricks and get publicity. Caine is able to make the character gruff but lovable. Also joining the cast is Andy Serkis, who plays Tesla’s assistant. Serkis, who is perhaps most known for his motion-capture work in The Lord of the Rings as Gollum, has a small role in the movie but is very memorable. The weakest performance is delivered by Scarlett Johansson, playing Olivia Wenscombe. Her character seems more of a plot point than a person, and her acting is stiff and bland. However, Rebecca Hall makes up for this by playing the very believable character of Borden’s wife, Sarah. It is a smaller part in the movie, but it is the most human.

Overall, The Prestige is a wonderful film which contains some of the best craftsmanship and talent seen in any movie. It is a dark look at the human mind, and it leaves a lasting impression.  “The Prestige is wonderfully engrossing, darkly mysterious and entertaining from start to finish” (Puig). The many twists and turns in the story’s complex plot are sure to leave the audience wanting a second viewing.

Works Cited