The fifth film in my in-depth analysis of the films of Christopher Nolan is the underrated and often overlooked masterpiece The Prestige. Often referred to as "one of magician movies of 2006", The Prestige competed for audience attention with The Illusionist, another period piece about magicians starring Edward Norton which was released a scant two months (almost to the day) earlier. While the fear of audience fatigue was very real, Nolan's superior story and storytelling translated into higher box office numbers and greater praise. Based on the book of the same name , Nolan's story of rival magicians in London at the turn of the 20th century may seem muted compared to his previous film at that time. However, in The Prestige, Nolan crafts a sci-fi period thriller with so many plot twists that it is positively Hitchcockian.
"Are you watching closely?" Alfred Borden
PLOT
London 1897, two young magicians working as apprentices to a known professional at the time strike up a friendship as they navigate the deceptive and secretive world of magic. They are the perfect pair, Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) has superb technical skill. There is no trick that he can't deduce or recreate; driving his desire to push the boundaries and "get his hands dirty." Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) is an excellent showman, able to manipulate the crowd to get them to believe in the impossible. This friendship is ruptured when, during a magic trick on stage, Borden pushes boundaries a bit too far resulting in the death of Angier's wife. What follows is an intense rivalry spanning several years that pushes both men to the brink of insanity and into the realms of science, sacrifice and the supernatural.
ANALYSIS (spoilers ahead)
One of the more interesting things that I noticed during my analytical viewing of The Prestige is that this is a film without a clear protagonist and antagonist. Now, given the set-up and structure of the film you might assume that this distinction is clear: Angier's wife dies, we as an audience are supposed to sympathize with him and the film follows Angier's story from more or less his perspective. But as the film continues, and Angier is more willing to "get his hands dirty" we become less sympathetic to his choices and his methods and we realize that the reason we don't follow the story from Borden's perspective is to keep his method to his magic a secret. By the film's end, we realize that each man, in their pursuit of perfection, have both given (and lost) everything that is important to them; and are worthy of both sympathy and contempt.
"No one cares about the man in the box." Robert Angier
Themes
On the surface, this film has they very blatant themes of obsession, revenge, sacrifice and rivalry that are common in a lot of Christopher Nolan films. In fact they are so common that one could say that you know you are watching a Christopher Nolan film when one of two things happens: 1) there is a protagonist with a psychological problem that attempting to deal with that problem through revenge, sacrifice or both. 2) A non-linear story structure. Because these are themes that are in virtually every Christopher Nolan film ( and I have addressed them in other reviews) The theme that I am going to focus on in this review is this film being an allegory for the relationship between the filmmaker and the audience.
In the beginning of the film, Cutter (Michael Caine) explains the three parts of a magic trick:
"Every magic trick has three parts or acts. The first is called 'The Pledge'. A magician shows you something ordinary; a deck of cards, a bird, or a man. He shows you this object, may even ask you to inspect it, for you to see that it is indeed real...normal. But it probably isn't. The second part of the act is called 'The Turn'. The magician takes that ordinary something and makes it do something extraordinary. Now you're looking for the secret, but you won't find it; because, of course, you are not really looking. You don't really want to know. You want to be...fooled. But you wouldn't clap yet, because making something disappear isn't enough, you have to bring it back. That is why every magic trick has a third part; the hardest part, the part we call 'The Prestige'."
For Christopher Nolan, this is not just a description of a magic trick, it is the description of the filmmaker's relationship with the audience. The filmmaker is the magician in this analogy and as such, Nolan gives the pledge, the turn and (hints at) the prestige for the film within the first few opening shots. It is almost as if Nolan, through Cutter's speech and the underlying shots is giving us his film philosophy, or at the very least his own job description.
Nolan's brilliance shines through when we the audience (much like the character of Angier) believe that the method (of this film) must be more complex than it actually is and so we start adding complexity to the story even though we've already been given all of the pieces of the puzzle but we don't know how all the pieces fit together until the end of the film. Once we know ending (secret), and we've gotten a peak behind the curtain, it changes the experience of watching the film. Thus, when watching the film multiple times, you get a different experience (which is Nolan's goal in every single film he makes).
As I was contemplating this theme ( seeing the film a 6 and 7th time through) I legitimately asked my self "Do today's audience really want to be fooled?" In our multi-platform social media spoiler filled culture, it seems that not only people don't want to be fooled but they want to figure out or come up with the answers before hand...to be smarter than the filmmaker; even though there is significant evidence that shows that spoilers (for stories we are invested in) reduces anticipation and therefore reduces the pleasure we receive from them. The conclusion that I have come to (aside from spoilers being a way for individuals to get a sense of self, recognition or their fifteen seconds of fame on the internet) is that many people in the audience want to be smarter than the filmmaker because many filmmakers treat the audience like they are morons. This is why films that have wide appeal have no plot, no story and are socially, culturally and politically problematic. Yet, filmmakers like Nolan who treat their audience's intelligence with respect, are given latitude to suspend disbelief.
"It took courage to step into that machine every night; not knowing if I would be the man
in the box, or the prestige." Robert Angier
Characters
This film is full of stellar performances from all the principle and supporting cast. It is their abilities that keeps the illusion Nolan is creating in tact. Hugh Jackman's Angier is assumed to be the films protagonist (as I've previously mentioned) but when he stops being driven by revenge and becomes a man obsessed he stops becoming sympathetic. Yet, like his character, Jackman is so earnest and affable that the audience rationalizes (almost) all of his behaviors. He goes around the world to find an answer to a simple trick and ends up paying for it with his life 100 times over...literally. Meanwhile, the Borden twins not only sacrifice their lives ( each only having half a life) but the lives of their loved ones ( both Sara's suicide and one brother murdered by Angier's trap). This is what happens when extremes meet.
As an aside, I really enjoyed Rebecca Hall's performance as Sara in this film. Her ability to tell the difference (albeit subconsciously) between the Borden brothers by the way each of them says "I love you" was brilliant. To that end, I have been able to determine (through several viewings of the film) which Borden brother was in each scene: Borden (S) loved Sara and Borden (O) loved Olivia.
First off let me say that I believe that Borden (O) was more in love with Magic and its technical mastery than Borden (S). Also, Borden (S) tends to be more sympathetic and remorseful towards Angier at the beginning of the film. But here is a list of the scenes and which Borden brother is present:
1) Borden (O) ties the knot that kills Julia (Angier's wife)
2) Borden (S) shows up at Julia's funeral
3) Borden (O) gets baby news from Sara even though the baby is Borden (S)'s
4) Borden (O) gets shot by Angier
5)Borden (S) gets his wound tended by Sara
6) Borden (S) Buys Sara the house
7) Borden (O) sabotages Angier's acts
8) Borden (O) gets buried alive
9) Borden (S) when Sara is drinking
10) Borden (O) when fighting with Sara
11) Borden (S) wants to leave Angier alone
12) Borden (O) is framed by Angier and executed
13) Borden (S) avenges his brother and takes back his daughter.
Cutter (Michael Caine) is our way into the film. He explains exposition and gives us all the answers we need...even if we don't believe them. Scarlett Johansen as Olivia serves her purpose ( as a prop and object for each man) she is the distraction Nolan uses to keep us in the deception of the film. Lastly, David Bowe is Tesla...Nolan's only choice, and in the film you can see why...amazing.
Photography
Wally Pfister once again is Nolan's director of photography on this picture. The film is full of sweeping wide gorgeous shots of Colorado that make the world feel large and expansive and by association the film as well. However that open feeling is often stunted whenever the characters are walking outside on a backlot set. Instantly, the wide open feeling is contained in a suffocatingly tight space that makes London of the early 20th century seem miniscule.
However, Pfister does a lot of shoulder camera work in this film that adds an organic feel to a lot of the dialogue ( like watching a play) because the actors aren't sure when they are getting a close up or even if the camera is covering them at that moment. This also allowed for actors to freely explore the sets during shooting having less restriction on space...meaning that they didn't have to stand in a proper spot to get camera coverage. Because of this method, there were many times in the film where I felt the movement of the camera added to the emotional resonance of the scene.
Direction and Conclusion
Outside of The Dark Knight Trilogy,(which stands in a class by itself) The Prestige is one of my two favorite Nolan films. The other being Inception, these are both films about film ( more on that when I get to my review of Inception). In The Prestige, Nolan is illustrating his vision of the relationship between the filmmaker and the audience. It is also clear that this film represents Nolan's love of cinema and literature in its construction and period setting. His passion for the art of film is so strong in this film that you can not help but be suck in by the undertow. Yes, this film could have been handled by another director, maybe even a director for hire, but it would be far more formulaic and far less captivating. Yet, regardless of its scope and grand themes, this film seems a far more (and welcomed) intimate affair than the previous film Batman Begins, or the following sequel The Dark Knight.
