I’ll admit that I’ve never been great at film reviews, but sometimes one comes along that you just have to tell people about, and I watched one of those yesterday. I hope you’ll all forgive me for my clunky attempts at describing it, because in the end it’s really worth watching — I promise.
It’s called The Prestige — based on the novel of the same name by Christopher Priest — and was released in 2006 (and subsequently nominated for two Academy Awards, in art direction and cinematography). It came recommended simply because it has Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale in it, which is a really good way of convincing me to watch a movie. And they are excellent reasons: both of them are perfectly matched to their roles. Respectively, they play Robert Angier and Alfred Borden, two rival magicians in London at the end of the 19th century. That’s right, I said magicians … this is a movie about magic.
And a magical one it is. It’s not, however, a happy rabbits-out-of-hats, disappearing quarters, feel-good sort of film. It is a brow-furrowing affair, with many instances of “What just happened?” or “Did he really just say that?”. As you might expect from a film about illusion, nothing is quite as it seems, and you, the viewer, spend a whole lot of your time trying to work something out only to find your conclusion was exactly the opposite. It is one heck of a plot line.
The premise of the film, in a word, is obsession. Angier is consumed with the idea of destroying Borden to pay him back for the death of his (Angier’s) wife, played by Piper Perabo, in a drowning accident while performing a trick. While it would be difficult for me to discuss the whole plot without revealing details, all you have to know is this: The Prestige is full of duality, smoke and mirrors, and a dark and fascinating vice grip of obsessive determination on the part of both men. Michael Caine, as Angier’s assistant Cutter, is the oft-unheeded voice of reason — to Borden and his adventurous knot-tying, to Angier and his plots to take Borden down.
David Bowie also makes an appearance as the mad scientist Nikola Tesla, and like the others, he is very well cast. His part is small, but essential to the outcome of the story, and he’s done a magnificent job portraying Tesla’s strange experiments. Together, this remarkable cast of characters (also including Rebecca Hall, Andy Serkis, and Scarlett Johansson) creates a web of illusions that keeps you trapped even after the film’s end. I suspect this one might take a few views to completely figure out. Although, if Cutter’s right, “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.”
Watch this movie.
The Prestige on imdb
Tags:
christian bale,
christopher nolan,
don't judge a book by its movie,
hugh jackman,
michael caine