The Prestige

Like many Christopher Nolan films, The Prestige isn’t easily categorized; instead, it’s a mash up of many genres. It’s a movie about magic in the tradition of George Pal’s Houdini; it’s a revenge movie, a suspense thriller and a sci-fi story. Its source material was the novel of the same name written by Christopher Priest, an author strongly influenced by H. G. Wells (Priest was appointed Vice-President of the international H. G. Wells Society in 2006, the year this movie was made). The story also takes place during the time and place of Wells’ heyday: London at the end of the 19th century.

Hard-to-Believe Premise

The Prestige is the story of two magicians, at first working together as audience plants for a more famous magician, later starting their own careers as independent agents: the working class and masterful Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) and Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman), a more financially secure and charismatic performer, though a lesser magician. Assisting their early act is Julia (Piper Perabo), Angier’s wife. When Borden ties Julia’s hands in a knot she can’t unravel, she drowns in an onstage water tank, leaving Angier distraught and plotting revenge. Why did Borden tie a more elaborate knot than he needed to? It’s a mystery the story never resolves.

The Prestige, despite wide-spread critical acclaim for the last dozen years, is a film I found wanting. After a strong start, the movie devolves into a tit-for-tat revenge story, with Borden and Angier going to ever greater lengths to destroy each other’s lives. While I found the characters interesting (as well as the profession, time period and locales) I didn’t quite believe these otherwise talented and smart men would devote their lives to obsessing over each other’s lives. The revenge aspect of the story seemed immature, and if you don’t “buy” the premise of the movie, then…

A Delightful Cast

Being a Christopher Nolan production, The Prestige does of course have many compensatory attributes, the first being the large and delightful cast, which includes Michael Caine as stage engineer John Cutter, Scarlett Johansson as Olivia, lover and spy, the delightful Rebecca Hall as Sarah, Borden’s wife, David Bowie as a very creditable Nikola Tesla, and Andy  Serkis (Gollum) as Tesla’s assistant. Like any well-made movie about magic, master magician Ricky Jay also makes an appearance, though only in one short scene.

Remarkable Cinematography

Longtime Nolan collaborator Wally Pfister’s cinematography is a marvel, utilizing real locations shot with natural lighting when possible. The attention to period detail is remarkable, every nook and cranny of rooms and city streets filled with mysterious objects, posters and handbills.

It’s perhaps not fair to criticize a work for not being what it didn’t try to be, but I can’t help but think that if the main character’s motivations had been a bit more believable and if, like George Pal’s Houdini, The Prestige could have made some room in its 130 minutes for humor and more humanity, its elaborate tricks and twists would have been more satisfying.

—Michael R. Neno, 2018 Apr 09