The Prestige is a 2006 drama about two stage magicians who engage in a battle to create the ultimate illusion, sacrificing everything they have to outwit the other.
Probably the least favored film of his career, while still being incredibly popular, Christopher Nolan‘s The Prestige is, as the director is famous for, a twisty bit of mind candy. It stars Christian Bale as Alfred Borden and Hugh Jackman as Robert Angier, competing magicians in the late 1800s, each creating and performing wildly elaborate illusions that have audiences gasping, however Borden is doing something seemingly impossible to believe, setting Angier upon a maddening journey that sees him build a trick with devastating consequences. Mixed in all this are Olivia Wenscombe (Scarlett Johansson) a beautiful assistant whose loyalties are always in question and Sarah (Rebecca Hall), Borden’s wife who is manipulated by her husband’s own disturbing secrets. Where will it all end?
THE LAST WORD
Full of clever twists and turns, led by great performances, the attention to period details and Nolan’s ability to keep key secrets from us make this really exciting.
For fans of more logical explanations of events, this might be a hard pill to swallow, the film leading us down a certain path that veers hard left in the third act.