The Prestige
| A mystery narrative of two magicians whose intense competition leads to a life-long war for supremacy, complete with obsession, deception, and jealously, with devastating repercussions.
CAST
Robert Angier invites members of his audience to examine the machine for his next act. One man from the audience, Alfred Borden, heads below the stage and waits as Angier's act continues. Angier walks into the machine as bolts of electricity envelop him. With the audience blinded by the light, a trap door opens, dropping Angier into a water tank in front of Borden. The lock traps him inside. Before the stage, the audience is left confused at Angier's disappearance.
Unbeknownst to them, Angier is trapped in the water tank, begging Borden for help as he drowns. Days after the performance, stage engineer John Cutter
stands before the jury. Cutter testifies that the water tank was used for Angier's first trick, then was taken off stage. Having seen Borden making his way below the stage, he accuses him of setting up the water tank under the trap door where Angier fell to his death.
Unconvinced with his testimony, the jury demands Cutter explains the method to Angier's illusion called The Real Transported Man. Cutter admits that revealing it would make the act worthless. The judge suggests Cutter divulge the secrets to him in private to make his decision with complete information without revealing the trick to the public. Weeks later, Borden is imprisoned and put under high security due to his skills as an escape artist. A solicitor named Owens visits Borden, representing an amateur magician named Lord Caldlow who wishes to buy The Original Transported Man's methods.
With the court ordering Borden's daughter to be removed from his friend's custody,
Owens offers to have Lord Caldlow raise the child in exchange for Borden's secrets. As a symbol of good faith, Owens hands him Angier's diary before leaving. In his cell, Borden reads Angier's travels to Colorado in his diary.
In a flashback two years prior, Angier arrives at Colorado Springs, where the whole town has access to electricity. He heads to the mountains to meet Nikola Tesla but is blocked by an electrified fence.
Tesla's assistant, Alley, recognizes him but refuses to let him meet the scientist. Unfazed, Angier tells Alley to find him at the hotel if they change their minds. At the hotel, Angier reads Borden's journal, reminiscing when they were merely stagehands for a magician named Milton.
During a show, Angier and Borden pretend to be audience members chosen to bind Milton's assistant, Julia. While he's tying her legs, Angier kisses Julia's leg, earning a smile from her. Julia is dropped into a water tank before the curtains fall, hiding the tank from the audience's view. The curtains rise, revealing Julia safely out of the tank. After the show, Borden complains about Milton's dull tricks backstage.
He claims to know a trick no other magician can do but refuses to reveal it. Cutter challenges Borden and Angier to figure out Chung Ling Soo's goldfish bowl trick, promising a chance to perform for the top theatrical agent, Mr. Ackerman if they do. Before they leave, Cutter scolds Borden for tying the Langford double on Julia's wrists on the show that could've put her in danger. Borden insists that his knot is better. With Borden gone, Cutter then scolds Angier for kissing Julia's legs on stage, which could reveal to the audience that she's his wife. At the Tenley, Borden and Angier watch Chung Ling Soo's show where he conjures objects, including a fishbowl, out of thin air. Borden guesses that Chung Ling Soo is pretending to be old to hide his props under baggy clothes and a hunched posture.
That evening, Angier tries the trick Borden claimed but finds it difficult to walk with a fishbowl under his clothes. Angier can't fathom the idea of living a lie, as Borden assumed Chung Ling Soo does. Angier claims he only changed his name to spare his family from embarrassment with his theatrical career. While assisting at a small show, Borden meets Sarah and her nephew, who cries for the bird that disappears in the act. Even when the bird is magically returned, the boy is convinced the original bird is dead. After the show, Borden returns the living bird
with the others. He opens the pedestal where the first bird disappeared and was killed, just as the boy said. He meets with Sarah and the boy outside, praising the boy's perceptiveness.
After having lunch with them, Borden walks Sarah to her apartment, but she refuses to let him in. He leaves as she enters her home, only to magically appear in her kitchen. At the present time, Cutter shows the judge the machine used during Angier's last show and the water tank where he drowned. The water tank's trick lock was replaced by a real one, preventing Angier's escape. This water tank, Cutter explains, has a history with both Borden and Angier. In another flashback years before, during another one of Milton's shows,
Angier and Borden tie up Julia for the water tank trick.
Borden and Julia share a look, agreeing to use the Langford double. Julia is lifted over the tank then dropped. Cutter stands on the side, ax in hand just in case. When the curtains aren't lifted after a minute, everyone gets worried. Cutter pulls the curtains down, revealing Julia still stuck inside the tank. Cutter breaks the glass to save Julia, but he's too late. Julia has drowned inside the water tank. Days after her death, Angier plunges his face in the water, hoping to feel how she felt in
her last moments. At her funeral, Angier demands what knot Borden tied around his
wife's wrist, and Borden lies, saying that he forgot before leaving with an apology. Weeks later, Sarah finds Borden with a strange man, Mr. Fallon, in her apartment. Borden gleefully announces that Fallon has provided the equipment he needs
for his first show. Sarah worries about their finances, revealing that she's pregnant.
Borden shares his bullet catch trick with Sarah, showing that the bullet is not in the gun when fired. Borden's show, however, is filled with boos from the audience. Tired of their complaints, Borden aims a gun at them, silencing the room. He chooses a volunteer to shoot him with the gun, not noticing the man putting another bullet inside. The man is Angier, still grieving under his disguise. The tension stretches out with Angier demanding which knot he tied his wife with.
Fallon attempts to take the gun from Angier, but he accidentally pulls the trigger.
Borden is shot in the hand, screaming in pain as Angier leaves. According to Borden's journal, he told Angier the truth that night. Angier is enraged,
still unconvinced that Borden doesn't know which knot he used the night of Julia's death.
Days later, Sarah tends to Borden's wound, which has barely healed. With two fingers missing, he can't perform many tricks other than what he's been keeping, the one he'll be remembered for. Meanwhile, Cutter and Angier work together, gathering materials for their show and hiring Olivia Wenscombe as Angier's assistant. Cutter invents a contraption that makes a dove disappear without harming the bird. They present the trick to Mr. Merrit, who owns the theater where their first show will be held. On Angier's show, he wows the audience by
switching two people's handkerchieves from their pockets. But Angier isn't satisfied with their reaction. After the intermission, Angier presents the dove to the audience, who become disappointed, assuming that it'll be the usual trick. Angier takes two volunteers to hold the birdcage, and to his surprise, one of them is Borden.
The two lock eyes as Borden triggers the cage's trap too early, killing the dove inside and breaking the other audience member's fingers. The incident leaves Mr. Merrit angry, canceling their show for good. With their show gone, Cutter suggests visiting a science exhibit to inspire their new act. In Colorado Springs, Angier deciphers Borden's journal when Alley joins him.
Angier claims to have discovered the secret to Borden's greatest trick,
a machine made by Tesla which he hopes to acquire. Curious, Alley takes Angier to show their experiment. Up in the mountain, Angier sees the whole town's lights go out. Tesla provided the town with electricity in exchange for using the generators whenever his experiments required it, such as this night. All around them, the field illuminates numerous wireless light bulbs, which harness power from the generators fifteen miles away.
Months before this, Angier first witnessed Nikola Tesla's technology during his science exhibit. Here is when Angier first sees Alley, who insists on the safety of Tesla's works despite Thomas Edison's smear campaign. Among the audience is Borden gazing at the lightning strikes inside the hall while the others cower away.
Angier follows him outside the exhibit and discovers Borden’s wife and baby daughter, Jess.
Jealousy filled him, seeing the family he could've had with Julia. But when he reads
Borden's stolen journal, he reads that Borden craved freedom despite the family he built. At the prison, Jess, now a little girl, visits her father.
Borden confirms from Fallon that the court intends to take Jess from him.
Learning this, Borden decides to accept Owen's offer. Later that day, a guard taunts Borden that his skills aren't enough to escape prison. Borden distracts the guard with a ball which clumsily rolls off his hand. The guard mocks him, not noticing Borden chaining his foot to the table. Two years before, Angier is finally allowed into Tesla's laboratory, where electricity loudly arcs within a platform.
Walking through the raging bolts emerges Nikola Tesla. He shakes Angier's hand while Alley puts a lightbulb on Angier's free hand. The bulb illuminates in his palm, conducting energy from their bodies.
During lunch, Tesla recognizes Angier's obsession, advising him to go home and forget his ideas. When Angier refuses, Tesla relents as he'd already begun building the machine. Months before this, Angier sees Borden's success in the newspaper.
Olivia warns him about his obsessive vengeance against Borden. But Angier argues, unable to accept that the man responsible for his wife's death is living the life he wanted.
That evening, Angier recounts Borden's newest trick that astonished him, where he enters one closet and immediately exits another. Angier is determined to learn how it's done, knowing that he can sell it better. Cutter insists Borden uses a double,
but Angier is convinced it's not that simple. With no other options, Angier agrees to find a double. Olivia introduces them to Gerald Root, a drunk ex-actor who looks like Angier. Angier is disappointed in the actor, but Cutter promises that he could make it work. A month later, while they're practicing the trick, Olivia and Angier flirt and kiss, excited for their big show. Cutter presents them the reformed Root, who walks to the stage drunk.But when he's performing, Root can still move as elegantly as Angier.
That evening, Angier presents the audience with The New Transported Man. Angier tosses his hat over the air, then enters one door on the stage and comes out to catch it on the opposite door. With the real Angier under the stage, Root relishes the crowd's applause, kissing Olivia, which earns more cheers. After the show, Angier expresses frustration over being below the stage once the crowd cheers. He wonders if he and Root can switch before the performance, but Cutter doubts if Root can mimic his showmanship to draw the audience's anticipation. Finding Root drunk, Cutter shoves him out, fearing someone would see him, which would destroy their act.
Alone, Olivia kisses Angier, hoping to celebrate with him properly. But Angier is distracted, still finding the act unsatisfying. Hoping to learn how Borden does it, Angier asks Olivia to spy on Borden, suggesting that she tell the truth to earn his trust.
Olivia is against the idea, dodging Angier when he leans for a kiss. But she agrees anyway.
Years after this, Tesla presents his invention to Angier. Using his hat, the machine produces electricity until it explodes in light. But the hat remains as if nothing happened. Two years ago, when Olivia visits Borden in his workshop, she confesses that Angier sent her to learn his secrets. Olivia claims she's had enough of Angier's attitude and truly wishes to change sides. Meanwhile, just before another show, Root demands more money to continue the act. Not wanting to risk their show, Angier agrees to pay him more until they get Borden's secrets.
One night, however, Root deliberately delays appearing on stage,
ruining their performance. He gets this idea from a man he met at a bar, who hinted how the double hired for the performance has more power over the magician. The man at the bar was Borden. On another show, when Angier steps into the trapdoor, the cushion under the stage is removed, causing his fall to break his leg. Instead of Root at the platform, he finds Borden.
Borden emerges onto the stage, giving the audience a laugh. In the middle of the stage, the drunk Root is presented, bound and gagged, as the crowd laughs at
him. Borden walks down the stage, mocking Angier and earning the audience's applause. Furious, Angier confronts Olivia, believing that she helped Borden sabotage him.
Olivia claims she only did what he asked her to. Olivia is sure that Borden has a double, but Angier is still not convinced. To prove her loyalty, Olivia gives him Borden's journal, but she needs to bring it back the next day. When Olivia reminds him that his wife will never return, Angier lets it slip that he only cares about uncovering Borden's secret.The statement surprises even himself, seeing the man he's turned into. To save Olivia the trouble, he breaks into Borden's workshop, making it seem that he stole the journal from there. One evening, after a successful show, Borden finds Angier stalking him. Fallon gets worried and follows them as well. To get ahead, Angier cuts into the alley where Fallon follows him. As Fallon climbs up the stairs, it breaks, and he falls into a large box where Cutter traps him inside. Holding Fallon as a hostage, Angier demands Borden's method for the Transported Man. Instead, Borden writes him a clue. Angier takes the clue and directs Borden to a shovel, telling him to dig to save Fallon's life. At the hospital, Angier and Cutter check the note, seeing the word Tesla. Angier beams, excited to discover Borden's secrets.
But Cutter is tired of being a pawn in Angier's obsession, deciding to leave the magician. At dinner, Sarah is surprised to see Borden bring along Fallon and Olivia. Borden celebrates as he's come up with a new trick: to bury himself alive every night. Unimpressed, Sarah suggests Fallon and Olivia leave, which they do. Alone with her husband, Sarah listens to Borden rant about nearly losing something dear to him, but he wouldn't share what it is. After witnessing Tesla's machine fail in Colorado, Angier reads the part in Borden's journal when Olivia first came to him. Olivia was angry to be sent to Borden, feeling used and betrayed by Angier.
As the days went by, Borden knows he couldn't trust Olivia but fell in love with
her nonetheless. The journal reveals that Olivia directed Borden to Root, then planted the journal to lead Angier into a wild goose chase. Borden, in his journal, mocks Angier for thinking that he'd reveal his secrets in writing. Angier clutches the notebook in his hand, his eyes red in anger. Angier marches to the laboratory, accusing Tesla of taking his money to fund his own experiment, not to build his machine. He threatens to bring Edison's men to them, but Tesla assures him that he did build the machine; it just hasn't operated as intended. Hoping to get a different result, Tesla uses Alley's cat on the machine. The cat meows as bolts of electricity surround it, but nothing happens. Disappointed, Angier leaves, the cat running to the exit with him.
Outside, Angier hears the cat screeching in the field. He follows the sound and finds dozens of his hats scattered around. Alley's cat chases after another cat that looks just like it. Tesla successfully created clones. This means his machine works. With this discovery, Tesla promises Angier to perfect it. Meanwhile, Borden finds Sarah pouring a drink to drown her sorrows. Borden promises his love to only her and Jess, but Sarah doesn't believe him.
Later, Borden meets with Fallon at the park. Borden suggests Fallon take Jess to the zoo instead and begs him to convince Sarah that he loves her. Then, Borden visits Olivia, who greets him with a kiss. Seeing his face, however, she reminds him to forget his family while he's with her. In Colorado, Angier finds Tesla's laboratory in ruins. Thinking that his investment is ruined, Angier checks out from the hotel. But the hotel manager shows him the package Tesla sent. In his letter, Tesla explains how he fled after Edison's men came to burn down his laboratory. He assures him that the machine will work but advises him not to use it, as it will only bring him misery.
His warning is ignored, however. Angier eagerly tests the machine, taking precautions in case there are still kinks in the process. He activates the machine and steps inside, allowing the electricity to fill him with sparks. In the present, Borden reaches the end of Angier's diary, where he mocks him, knowing that he's reading the diary while in prison. The next day, Borden confronts Owens, who assures him that the diary is real. Borden hands Owens his notes, but they're incomplete. He demands to say goodbye to Jess before giving them the complete notes. Months before, Borden's marriage falls apart due to his affair with Olivia.
Sarah is tired of Borden's lies and secrets. She demands to know the truth to prove his love for her, but he refuses, confessing that he did not love her at that moment. Sick of his lies, Sarah hangs herself in the middle of Borden's workshop. Meanwhile, Cutter meets with Angier in an abandoned theater.
Angier reveals The Real Transported Man, which he intends to perform for a show.
With Cutter's help, Angier presents the act to Mr. Ackerman. Angier enters the cage, surrounded by crackling bolts of lightning. He disappears before their eyes only to appear behind Ackerman. The presentation astonishes Ackerman into agreeing to fund their show. One afternoon, Olivia confesses that Sarah wanted to meet her the day before she died. Sarah wanted to reveal something to Olivia, but Olivia was afraid to face her.
Now, Olivia asks Borden what Sarah would have said. Borden claims that he never loved Sarah, at least not wholly. He claims to love Olivia instead, but she isn't satisfied. Before she leaves, Olivia informs him of Angier's return, troubling Borden. On the first night of Angier's show, Borden joins the audience. Angier unveils Tesla's machine that fills the stage with lighting, leaving them in awe. Angier walks inside and disappears before the audience's eyes. He appears at the balcony behind the audience, earning him a standing ovation.
Borden panics at this, angrily demanding Fallon to outsmart Angier. Fallon stalks Angier's blind assistants as they transport equipment out of the theater. Still, they can't figure out his trick. On the night of Angier's death, Borden examines the machine along with the audience then infiltrates the set. He heads under the stage and witnesses Angier drop into the water tank.
Borden tries to break it open with a wrench, but he's too late. Cutter intervenes,
finding Angier dead. These events lead to Borden being sentenced to death for Angier's murder. In prison, Borden is delighted to see Jess, uninterested in her new guardian at first. When he raises his eyes to Lord Caldlow, he's stunned to see Angier's face staring back at him. Angier smiles, blaming Borden's obsession that led him there. Borden threatens to leave Jess out of their battle, which Angier disregards, now that he can take away someone precious to Borden. Borden bargains with his secret for the Transported Man, but Angier tears the note apart, uninterested.
Borden begs for his and his daughter's life, but it falls on deaf ears. Angier takes Jess to his manor, where Cutter waits for him. In disbelief and fury, Cutter demands answers on how he's still alive. Cutter turns his back on Angier, guilty of helping send Borden, an innocent man, to be hanged while his daughter ends up with the man who sent him there. Sarcastically, Cutter asks Angier where he wants to take the Tesla machine. Angier promises to make sure the machine is never used again. In prison, Borden apologizes to Fallon for going too far and for what he'd done to Sarah.
Borden tells Fallon to live his life for both of them, tossing his rubber ball to his friend as he says goodbye. Over the next few days, Cutter visits Jess in the manor, then delivers the machine back to the abandoned theater. Borden walks his last steps to be executed for the crimes he didn't commit. At the same time, the machine is lowered under the old theater's stage. Cutter and Angier push it away into a dark room. Meanwhile, Borden is prepped for his hanging as his last rites are read to him. As his last words, Borden says "Abracadabra" before the trapdoor is pulled. After Cutter leaves the theater, Angier hears someone else in the dark.
The living Borden, who has lost half his life, his fingers, his wife, and his brother, embraces his deceptive nature and finds his way back to his daughter, reuniting with her and fulfilling the promise he made to his brother. A dark contrast to his twin brother and Angier, who were consumed by the cost of their deception and their obsession with fame and fortune.
This has literally cost them their lives. Borden’s twin hanging in the gallows and Angier, abandoned in the darkness beneath the stage, surrounded by the dozens of water tanks serving as coffins to his numerous duplicates.
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