Dir. Christopher Nolan, US/UK, 2006, 130 mins
Cast: Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Caine
Review by Carol Allen
While rather less of a brain teaser than Nolan's brilliant Memento which, like this, was co-written with his brother Jonathan, The Prestige does use some similar, puzzle-like techniques in its structure to keep you on your intellectual toes.
Set in the gothic Victorian world of music hall magicians, the film tells the story of two such: the posh and sophisticated Robert Angier (Jackman) and the ambitious, working class rough diamond, Alfred Borden (Bale). Initially friends and colleagues, the two become bitter rivals after a tragic onstage accident. Drawn into a deadly dance of revenge and one-upmanship, they steal each others secrets and show up in disguise to sabotage each other's performances, sometimes in extremely vicious ways.
The story begins with what appears to be a murder, and then, like the unveiling of a magic trick itself, flashes back and forth in time laying clues for the audience, as it reveals the story leading up to that murder and beyond. The title of the film is a magician's term, as explained by Caine, who plays the genial and twinkly eyed "ingeneur", the man who designs the illusions - a sort of Victorian ‘Jonathan Creek’ really. "Every great magic trick consists of three acts" he tells us. "The Pledge, where the magician shows you something apparently ordinary... The Turn, when he makes his ordinary something do something extraordinary... and the Prestige, where lives hang in the balance and you see something shocking you've never seen before." And while the story incidentally reveals many secrets of the magician's art in its telling, its dénouement turns on the mystery of the Prestige of Borden's greatest trick, which Angier spends his life and fortune trying to crack and emulate.
The actors all give accomplished and well delineated performances, which deepen as the plot unfolds. Jackman charms and captivates his audience; Bale challenges them. There is also feminine charm from Scarlett Johansson as the lovely and duplicitous assistant of both of them, at various times. Rebecca Hall is touching as Borden's downtrodden wife, while David Bowie is intriguing as Nikola Tesla, a real life electrical and mechanical inventor and rival to the better known Edison, whom Angier hires to solve the riddle of Borden's masterpiece. But this is primarily a twisting, plot led revenge drama, a highly entertaining and well thought out illusion, which should impress you with its skill and sleight of hand, even if you don't believe a word of it.
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