The Prestige, based on the book by Christopher Priest and directed, adapted by Christopher Nolan - Nine out of 10

The Prestige, based on the book by Christopher Priest and directed, adapted by Christopher Nolan

Nine out of 10

This is a note about the film, inspired by the book…

The Prestige has had a…prestigious relationship with the audiences as evidenced by the 1,099, 489 viewers that have given it an average of 8.5 out of 10, placing it with that appreciation at 48 among the Top Rated Movies, although the critics have not been equally ebullient and have given it a Metascore of 66, which means that on average, they have enjoyed the film, but not with exaggerated enthusiasm for a twice nominated for the Oscars production.

The astounding Christian Bale as Alfred Borden – and perhaps another, mysterious character – Scarlett Johansson as Olivia Wenscombe, Hugh Jackman as Robert Angier, legendary Michael Caine as Cutter, Rebecca Hall in the role of Sarah and all the other artists, including Andy Serkis and David Bowie, as Tesla, work resplendently under the direction of Christopher Nolan.

Robert Angier and Alfred Borden work together at the beginning of their careers, helping a ‘magician’ perform, tying up an assistant that jumps into a huge box filled with water, only to appear spectacularly outside, if the ties are correct and the special lock is in place, but when one of these conditions are not met, she dies drowning, before the hammer can break through the glass to release the now cold, dead body.

This is the beginning of a vicious, lifelong hatred between the two main characters, for when confronted, Alfred Borden claims he does not remember what type of knot he had used – he had been contemplating changing the style and that might have been the cause of the fatal entrapment – and with that he becomes a mortal enemy of Robert Angiers, who had loved the dead woman, who had been his wife and whose leg he had used to kiss during the performance, making Cutter tell him to stop, for the public seated in the first rows could see it…

Alfred is working with unscrupulous, cruel performers, one of whom uses in his act birds, like so many others, but his ‘act’ has him kill the poor feathered animals, for the pretense that the little soul disappeared was based on the monster slapping his hand over the covered creature, thus squashing it and then bringing out from a hidden pocket in the coat a new, different canary or other small bird, pretending it is just innocent magic.

Alfred Borden works on a different performance, involving a revolver, that a member of the audience would fire at him, without killing him, because he has supernatural powers allegedly, only he shows his wife, Sarah, that she has nothing to worry about, because the bullet he is supposed to have caught with his chest, will have been always in his hand and the gun is manipulated in such a manner as to be unable to hurt him.

Indeed, as we can all see now on Discovery or other channels, the secrets of ‘magic tricks’ rely on a few aspects, such as the distraction technique – while the audience is concentrated and watching intensely one hand, the other does the ‘trick’, based also on the psychologically tested fact that we tend to accommodate to very fast changing circumstances – or and the agility and dexterity of those who practice all day, every day in their trade…an example that comes to mind is included in bobby Deerfield, with Al Pacino, where the hero asks a magician how he does his act and in answer, the latter plays with a coin that keeps moving through all his fingers and when the main character tries to do the same, he is unable even after plenty of tests…

When they are still comrades in arms, Robert and Alfred go to see a Chinese old man – at least in theory – perform his unbelievable act, in which at one point a huge bowl with a fish appears and they realize that the man pretends he is feeble and walks with great effort, while he trains all day and he has immensely powerful muscles in his legs, which allow him to carry the huge, round fish tank covered under his traditional dress and thus present it as a miraculous apparition on the table.

When they are adversaries, first Robert shows at the act of his mortal enemy and he is the one who offers to fire the gun in the act, only to use a real one and shoot off the ends of a few fingers, and in return, after this happens, the wounded Alfred returns the ‘favor’,  by appearing on stage at the other’s act, which involves a disappearing dove, only to injure the spectator that volunteered to help and kill the bird in front of the public, ruining his prospects.

The confrontation continues when Alfred creates a new, unseen magic act, in which he seems to disappear at one side of the stage, only to materialize instantly at the other end, a presentation which Robert immediately copies with the help of his partner, Cutter, who states that this is made with the inclusion of a ‘double’, and in this case they find an unemployed actor, who drinks too much and in fact would cause much trouble when he is approached by the rival, Alfred, who would speculate on this vice and thus mange to include himself in the show of the enemy, only to advertise to the audience his own, better production that is staged across the street.

The famous Tesla aka the late, famed David Bowie is included in the movie, albeit the suggestion that his experiences would have resulted in cats and top hats that multiply and appear somewhere else is odd and evidently preposterous, but the relationship with Robert Angier and the presence of hatchet men sent by Thomas Edison is interestingly presented.

To conclude, the film is indeed special and rewarding, with wondrous acting all around and the creative, original direction of the now established Christopher Nolan adding a splendid flavor to the movie.