The Prestige discussion----MAJOR SPOILERS

[Gremal]

Since buying this film on blu-ray recently, I've become a little obsessed with it. Seen it twice so far. At the end, it clearly shows a body in each of ten or so water tanks. The question is whose bodies were they?

It seems that most viewers interpret the device built by Tesla as a real cloning device, which plunges the film firmly into science fiction. I don't agree with that interpretation. It is clear that Algier was deceived by Borden to seek out Tesla for a teleportation device Tesla of course never built. I believe Algier was then deceived by Tesla into financing the cloning device, which was a scam. Algier left London for two years and in that time I believe he rounded up a dozen or so look-alikes and paid them to do the teleporting man show in London, murdering each man in the water tank below stage, for the sole purpose of entraping Borden. My reasoning is as follows:

* Everything in the entire movie had a rational explanation. It would follow that Algier's transporting man trick would have a rational explanation.

* While Borden was actually two twins living a single life, which explained all the horrible things he had done and suggested each brother was fundamentally a good person (although one brother was clearly too headstrong and impulsive), Algier was genuinely damaged and malicious.

* Algier was said by Tesla to be his last financier, and therefore Tesla was obligated to make Algier believe he was developing a teleportation device. If you know anything about Tesla, he himself was a brilliant scientist but also he lost to Edison in their own competition and died penniless, even though Tesla developed the better technology: alternating current. Now, as brilliant as Tesla was, there is no way you can teleport or clone someone using AC electricity. Tesla lived out much of his life looking for financing.

* All of the "tricks" Tesla showed Algier made sense scientifically: the body conducts electricity and can be used to turn on a lightbulb. Moisture in the ground can also conduct electricity. Algier saw no wires and thought this was magic, but it's science.

* To convince Algier his money was not being wasted, all Tesla showed Algier was a bunch of hats identical to Algier's (Tesla had ample opportunity to have exact replicas made) and a black cat that looked just like the one he put in the device. Algier was tricked by common magicians' materials.

* Upon discovering that Tesla's device was a fraud, Algier would not have given up.

* Algier had learned from Michael Caine's character that the only way to do the transporting man trick was to have a look alike and to coach the look-alike to behave like the original.

* Algier also learned from that experience that the look-alike could not be trusted or given a chance to learn his value. Given his motivations, this would have planted a seed in Algier's head to murder the look-alikes and his hatred of Borden would have planted the seed to have him framed for murder.

* While it's true that Algier was never shown to hire or meet with a body double toward the end, the film also never showed any "clone"--be it Algier, a hat or a cat--materializing out of thin air.

* Algier's journal trailed off after he had acquired Tesla's device. He never wrote about how he did the transporting man trick.

* The most compelling of all is Michael Caine's change in attitude toward Algier and his voiceover at the end, basically telling the viewer that there was a rational explanation but that "you don't really want to work it out" because you want to believe the illusion.

A really great film.

[Ovation]

I will have to re-watch this now, after your points. I took the film's ending as having veered into sci-fi and chalked it up to flawed film making (not the first time that even a good director paints himself into a corner). I will give it another look and ponder it as you've raised some interesting points.

[George Bellefontaine]

I only rented it and the old memory isn't good enough to get into a discussion about it now. A lot of films these days don't make sense and I find myself just kicking back and trying my best to enjoy them anyway.

[Gremal]

Actually the film makes complete sense either way you interpret the Tesla device. It's just a question of whether you think the plot veers suddenly into science fiction or stays rooted in the rational explanations that are set up and paid off in every other aspect of the movie.

[Ovation]

Actually the film makes complete sense either way you interpret the Tesla device. It's just a question of whether you think the plot veers suddenly into science fiction or stays rooted in the rational explanations that are set up and paid off in every other aspect of the movie.

True. However, in either case, the film is flawed (though still enjoyable). If it is the "rational" explanation that you suggest above, then the film is being a bit too clever by half. While I enjoy a film that makes me think, it should not try so hard with so little time left as it jars from the overall tone of the film. If it is the sci-fi angle, then it is a deus ex machina employed by many film makers who find themselves stuck in a corner. As I think more about it, I think the "rational" one is the likelier option (though I still haven't watched it again, so I'm only leaning that way, not convinced entirely) and, I think, it is explained in the following manner (pure speculation on my part):

The entire film is based on the "misdirection" of magic. The ending can be viewed as the director's own attempt at "misdirection"; in effect, he is mimicking the characters of his film. However, it is not as smoothly done, from a film making and storytelling perspective, as most of the tricks in the film. So if the "rational" option is the correct one, then it is not well executed, in my opinion (and based on my recollection--again, I will re-watch the film to render my final opinion).

Good subject for discussion. :T

[saurabh]

Why do you want a rational explanation for this movie and many others, just enjoy the art.

Not many movies are made with "rational" story in mind, no matter what.

[Ovation]

Why do you want a rational explanation for this movie and many others, just enjoy the art.

Not many movies are made with "rational" story in mind, no matter what.

It doesn't have to have a "rational explanation". I don't think the OP is expressing frustration, but merely a sincere desire to discuss (and that is something to be encouraged). I'm a big fan of films whose plots/endings are open to multiple interpretations precisely because they provoke discussions beyond "so, wasn't that exploding (fill in the blank) awesome?" or "wasn't so-and-so's character a real (fill in your favourite expletive)". Good art should provoke discussion and debate.

[Gremal]

Exactly. The point isn't that all movies should have a rational explanaion, it's that this particular movie was about magicians practicing their craft. But Nolan was very careful to show that there is no such thing as magic. That was a theme of this movie: that the better magician (Borden) was more skilled at hiding his secret and the better showman (Angier--sorry I previously called him Algier erroneously) was less skilled at hiding his secret...until he started using the Tesla device. In other words, the film SET ITSELF UP to have a rational explanation for everying, and it did--depending on how you interpret the ending.

I have no problem with movies that are set up on the premise of sci fi or teleportation or cloning or human apes or whatever...The Prestige was not such a film. Right at the beginning and repeated at the end, we are told about the pledge, the turn and the prestige. The movie itself has these stages. It's really quite brilliant.

[djsixbillion]

Well, I have read the book, and the text (which a movie adaptation doesn't necessarily have to follow in every detail) is pretty clear that Tesla's machine DID work, but not exactly as he had intended, creating a double of the subject which was teleported. Thus the many dead Angiers'. A pretty good read, by the way.

[saurabh]

I never meant that he is discussing his frustation but as he himself has accepted that he's obsessed with this movie and wants to discuss everything about it. Some movies are meant to be just enjoyed, if you try to go too deep into it, you loose the fun of watching it. The producers are not trying to prove anything, they are trying to entertain.

But please feel free, this is A discussion forum. :T

It doesn't have to have a "rational explanation". I don't think the OP is expressing frustration, but merely a sincere desire to discuss (and that is something to be encouraged). I'm a big fan of films whose plots/endings are open to multiple interpretations precisely because they provoke discussions beyond "so, wasn't that exploding (fill in the blank) awesome?" or "wasn't so-and-so's character a real (fill in your favourite expletive)". Good art should provoke discussion and debate.

[Gremal]

Well, I have read the book, and the text (which a movie adaptation doesn't necessarily have to follow in every detail) is pretty clear that Tesla's machine DID work, but not exactly as he had intended, creating a double of the subject which was teleported. Thus the many dead Angiers'. A pretty good read, by the way.

But isn't the book supposed to be a series of journal entries from the magicians and don't magicians have a rule to never disclose the secret of their trick? In the movie, the journal entry in which Angier first uses Tesla's device trails off with "and this is where I must leave you..." What was the corresponding entry in the book? Guess I should read it.

[djsixbillion]

Yes, not to spoil too much, but in the book there is actually a third-party (present-day) narrative voice in addition to the journal entries, which helps to clear up some of the amiguity.

[Chris D]

Coincidentally, I watched a friend's DVD on a trip last week, and then it also showed up on BD in the mail yesterday, from my free BD rebate. Haven't watched it in my theater yet, to evaluate PQ and SQ, but just on the story from having watched it on a laptop:

I too took the ending to be a major diversion into sci-fi, which MAJORLY detracted from the movie. I was all set to give it 4.5 or 5 stars, as a drama thriller, and I thought the ending was very disappointing. Reading this thread, though, now that I've seen the movie, I'll watch it again with the other interpretation, that the tanks were full of hired body doubles, not Tesla teleporter duplicates. I guess I hadn't considered that possibility. If the movie had done a bit better job of presenting that as an interpretation, I think it would have been better.

[rhayes13]

I like both interpretations (maybe its just the english critic in me coming out) but I love the fact that it can be seen two ways. Although the idea of having body doubles does make the whole movie a little bit more philosphical and interesting to think about.

[Race Car Driver]

Well, I have read the book, and the text (which a movie adaptation doesn't necessarily have to follow in every detail) is pretty clear that Tesla's machine DID work, but not exactly as he had intended, creating a double of the subject which was teleported. Thus the many dead Angiers'. A pretty good read, by the way.

Thats how I took the movie when I saw it in the theater. I am waiting for it as I believe it was one of my "free 5 blu rays" when i bought my PS3.
Who knows when that will show up...

[George Bellefontaine]

I believe it was one of my "free 5 blu rays" when i bought my PS3.
Who knows when that will show up...

Yeah, I bought my Blu player on January 6 and sent for my free movies a couple of days later. I'm still waiting.

[aud19]

Just watched this a week or so ago and hadn't thought of that! VERY interesting interpretation

[Chris D]

On the note of the free disc rebates, I sent in both BD and HD-DVD rebates on 17 January. I got my BD discs on 18 March, all 5 that I had actually requested, no substitutions. I just called Friday, and the HD-DVD people say that my rebate is in "final stages" with them and "should ship out shortly". :roll: Whatever. I asked, and they said that I'm listed as getting all 5 that I requested with them, too, no substitutions. We'll see when (and whenever) the rebate shows up.

[Race Car Driver]

Yeah, I bought my Blu player on January 6 and sent for my free movies a couple of days later. I'm still waiting.

Your about a month ahead of me, Id really like to watch this movie again too!

[Chris D]

Okay, so I re-watched the movie, this time on BD. (first, very good PQ and SQ. Enjoyable on BD!) The movie is enjoyable the 2nd time around, now that you know the secret of Borden's twin brother and Angier's double life as Count Wardlow. (sp) And now that someone has brought it up, I can very much appreciate the interpretation that there is no magic or Tesla duplication, but a killing of 100 body doubles. Actually, I want to accept this as the real event. Several things that are preventing me from it, though, like:

- Mr. Cutter clearly identifies the drowned man in the morgue as Angier. He would have spotted a double.

- As Angier (or the double) is drowning, and then died, Borden sees him face to face, just a few inches away. He likely would have been able to tell he was a double, also.

- Since Borden does the Transported Man trick also, using a "double", (his brother) he would immediately believe that Angier does it the same way. He even very easily concludes earlier in Angier's first production of the Transported Man that the other man is a double. Yet with the Tesla device version, he doesn't think Angier uses a double. Borden becomes irate with his brother, wondering how Angier does it!

- Finally, though, the thing that stops me the most from accepting this interpretation is that during the sequence that shows Algier trying out the machine for the first time after getting it from Tesla, we are shown a scene where a new Algier appears immediately after using the device. The original Algier is startled and shoots the new Algier with the gun he had prepared for the possibility of the Tesla device duplicating himself, killing the new Algier. (although we are not shown the actual emergence of the new Algier a second before that scene bit starts) It would be difficult to explain this scene under the context of the Tesla device NOT being a duplicator.


All in all, I appreciate this movie more after seeing it a 2nd time. However, I still think it could have been crafted a little better at the end, presenting both interpretations as possibilities.