2005’s “The Prestige”, directed by Christopher Nolan.
Starring Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, Michael Caine,
Scarlett Johansen, Piper Perabo, Andy Serkis, David Bowie, and Rebecca Hall.
Nominated for an Academy Award in Best Cinematography (Wally
Pfister) and Best Achievement in Art Direction (Nathan Crowley and Julie
Ochipinti).
Are you watching closely? The Prestige asks many questions,
and it’s tale about a couple of professionals who develop a blood feud has
answers that lead to more questions. A meditation on obsession, once we know
what we lust to understand, can we ever be satisfied? And should we even know?
Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman feature, as 2 entertainers
in London at the end of the 19th century. Their act is managed by
Michael Caine, who builds machines for the performers to trick the audiences
into believing what they’re seeing. Jackman is the populist performer who is
always looking for a quick way to increase his fame, while Bale is the purist
who is always trying to find new ways to innovate his craft, at the risk of
alienating others. After a performance in front of a packed house goes fatally
wrong, the 2 develop a rivalry that gets ugly fast. Jealousy, subterfuge, lies,
murder, all are possible as they both attempt to perform the ultimate act.
Here, Caine plays the realist, impervious to claims of
magic. He insists men are magicians and not wizards- therefore they must fool
audiences with misdirection. Hall and Johanssen both play their parts in
further clarifying and muddying the waters of their men’s lives, but with so
much being what it isn’t, it’s a fool’s errand.
Nolan himself uses copious misdirection to obscure what it is we’re watching, combined with his technical perfection. Through his now reliable style featuring plenty of ominous musical score, men’s wear, water, and dream logic, we flash back and forth through time, with characters reading aloud each other’s journals, identifying what we think we know, and forgetting what is in plan sight as we continue to probe. “Prestige” is also a period piece, about the turn of century in how mankind was evolving from magical thinking to more scientific based theorem, capturing the paranoia of technology overtaking society with it’s threats of sea changes. Indeed, “Prestige”’s most illuminating characters aren’t the 2 protagonists- it’s the engineers, who create the devices to help sell the machine of illusion to willing audiences. As one character warns, nothing good can come from obsession. But then, when the credits roll, we know what the movie was really about. Nolan is the magician, and we the gleeful crowd, gasping for more. How did he do that?
Nolan himself uses copious misdirection to obscure what it is we’re watching, combined with his technical perfection. Through his now reliable style featuring plenty of ominous musical score, men’s wear, water, and dream logic, we flash back and forth through time, with characters reading aloud each other’s journals, identifying what we think we know, and forgetting what is in plan sight as we continue to probe. “Prestige” is also a period piece, about the turn of century in how mankind was evolving from magical thinking to more scientific based theorem, capturing the paranoia of technology overtaking society with it’s threats of sea changes. Indeed, “Prestige”’s most illuminating characters aren’t the 2 protagonists- it’s the engineers, who create the devices to help sell the machine of illusion to willing audiences. As one character warns, nothing good can come from obsession. But then, when the credits roll, we know what the movie was really about. Nolan is the magician, and we the gleeful crowd, gasping for more. How did he do that?
5/5
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