The smog that surrounds London and lends the movie a gritty Dickensian air contrasts with the sharp blasts of electricity promoted by Nikola Tesla (played by David Bowie, which is awesome). Set at the turn of the twentieth century, The Prestige is a story constantly on the brink. Angier, the better showman, has successes and setbacks of his own, but he never gives up on his quest for vengeance, which transforms from avenging his wife’s death to wanting to outdo Borden’s famous trick even if he has to rely on a drunken double to do it.

What had been a healthy rivalry becomes a constant game of one-upmanship as both men attempt to outdo one another in magic and in revenge.īorden, the superior technician, finds happiness with a wife and child, and he begins to have financial success with a trick called “The Transported Man,” in which he goes through a door and emerges on the other side of the stage. Like Memento and Inception, it is also a puzzle narrative, with clues to the various illusions and truths promoted by the two main characters scattered about like so many top hats.Īpprentice magicians Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) and Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) had a tense but workable relationship until Borden’s hubris accidentally (we think) leads to the death of Angier’s wife. Christopher and Jonathan Nolan’s third big-budget film, The Prestige is a story of duplicity and duplication, tricks and tall tales.

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