What is real?
“Are you watching closely?”
Using 20 words, or less, complete this sentence:
Christopher Nolan’s film is about rival magicians;
it looks beyond the magic tricks and illusions at
the reality that is concealed beneath them.
Using 20 words of less, complete this sentence:
The film explores
Alfred Borden “The Professor” & Robert Angier "The Great Danton "
The irony is that no matter how
closely you watch, no matter
how carefully you follow the
subtleties of the story, you are
still going to be fooled.
The Prestige does not allow the
option of realizing final twists
prematurely, because these
twists literally come out of
nowhere.
The viewer would have to read
the minds of the characters to
know their tactics. The film isn’t
about “tricks” at all, but rather
our helplessness in
understanding them, and the
obsessions that control both
the film’s characters and us.
…………………………………………
Answer these questions aloud
1. How many stages does a magic trick consists of?
3 stages
2. Name the three stages as described by Cutter
The Pledge, The Turn, and The Prestige
3. If the ‘turn’ is when the magic is performed, what is
the ‘prestige’?
It is the restoration of the object
back to its normal state, e.g lady
sawn in half is joined together
again.
Read and evaluate this statement:
Good magicians create tricks that end with an
impressive prestige; great magicians create illusions
centered on the prestige, that are so superior that
even other magicians are stumped. The prestige
thus becomes a competition between magicians; if
they are not careful, they can easily become
obsessed with trying to learn their adversary’s
advanced tricks.
Evaluate using this question: Who do
magicians create their tricks for?
An audience of strangers
other magicians?
Explain your answer.
How a magic trick is constructed
First, there is the setup, or the "pledge," where the
magician shows the audience something that appears
ordinary but is probably not, making use of misdirection.
Next is the performance, or the "turn," where the
magician makes the ordinary act, extraordinary.
Lastly, there is the "prestige," where the effect of the
illusion is produced. There are twists and turns, where
you see something shocking, something you've never
seen before.
Evaluate: Is it still possible for a magician to shock?
Evaluate: Is it still possible for a magician to shock?
The Prestige is like an irresistible puzzle box,
a perfectly executed magic trick.
PLOT / STRUCTURE
The Pledge
The Turn
The Prestige
The film is split into three storylines, each
resembling one of "the three stages of magic". Each
narrative has its own plot problems and goals for the
character to achieve: Alfred
…
must escape prison,Angier
..
must be a better magician than Alfred
.. , and Angier
..
must get the machine from Tesla
. .
PLOT / STRUCTURE
The Pledge
The Turn
The Prestige
Explain the 3 parts of a trick using Borden’s life.
"The Pledge: … The magician shows you something
ordinary: … a man.”
"The Turn ... The magician takes the ordinary something
and makes it do something extraordinary.
"The Prestige ... every magic trick has a third act, the
hardest part, … making something disappear isn't
enough you have to bring it back.” (Quotes: Cutter)
The Prestige” is told through a
fragmented timeline. It is constructed
as a post-modern puzzle, framing stories
within stories, flashbacks within flashbacks,
and presenting us with at least two unreliable
narrators - one of whom is the victim in the
murder trial that opens the film.
Which slide sums
up the narrative
structure best? Is it
this one? Why?
Slide
A
The Prestige is told through a non-linear, flashback
structure, starting the film at the ending, and then
reverting back to the beginning. There are three
narratives going on at the same time: The ‘End’
narrative (jail cell), the ‘Beginning’ narrative (starting
with the feud and the first murder), and the ‘Middle’
narrative. By having three narratives, the stories
intertwine and strengthen each other better than a
linear narrative could.
Which slide sums
up the narrative
structure best? Is it
this one? Why?
Slide
B
MOTIFS
A MOTIF is a recurring element that helps to
develop a major theme of a text. In film, a motif is a
repeated idea, action, pattern, or image.
The motif of doubling and the motif of illusion
Can you tell if the bird on the left, or the bird on the right
is in Cutter’s hand? What motif is Nolan presenting right
at the start of the film through this trick? (Think/Pair)
Nolan continues to present a theme through using
the same motif.
The audience routinely sees the same tricks
performed at least twice: by Borden (aka The
Professor) and Angier (aka The great Danton).
What motif is Nolan continuing through this repetition?
To pull off The New Transported Man, Angier requires
his own double. Fortunately, an out of work actor is
found who is Angier’s double.
What motif is Nolan continuing through this?
The motif of doubling
or parallelism.
Name some other examples of this motif in the film.
For example, Nikolai Tesla,
has a rivalry with the inventor
(and moving picture pioneer)
Thomas Edison which mirrors
the magicians' relationship.
What theme is developed through the motif of doubling?
Identity …. Identity as an illusion … The ambiguity of identity
… Identity as a maze of possibilities …. Identity as a
construction, rather than an immutable truth … Identity as a
socially defined reality …. (Pick one or write your own.)
Every scene in the film has a meaning above
and beyond the telling of the main narrative as
each scene gives clues to the secrets
concealed in the film, and the main themes.
What was the narrative here and what was concealed?
Hey, aren’t you
Batman?
Yeah, and
you’re
Wolverine,
right?
Just
messing
with you!
Problems to puzzle over
Who is the protagonist? Is it Angier, because he is
the murder victim? Or is it Borden, who is framed
by Angier for his murder? Who’s the Antagonist?
You have 6 minutes to work with a partner to
respond to these questions in a few paragraphs.
You might have written something like this …
Both Borden and Angier have questionable morals and limited
capacities to experience life beyond their performances, so we
cannot decisively determine which of them is the protagonist
and which is the antagonist.
Ultimately, Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman, play characters
that are required to be very controlled in their ability to reveal as
little as possible in as many exaggerated interactions as
necessary.
How much of their lives is a façade is difficult to ascertain,
especially when Borden and Angier knowingly write diaries
which they expect the other to read, and our knowledge of what
they do and think is limited to what the diaries reveal.
By the end, perhaps both are victims, tragic hero protagonists,
in an Aristotalean-type tragedy.
It’s hard to determine who the
protagonist is, but now you HAVE
to decide who the protagonist is.
Using these two statements from
Bordwell’s book, “Three
Dimensions of Narrative Film” will
help you to decide on an answer:
“The protagonist may be the
character with the greatest
power.” (This will be our exemplar)
“The Protagonist may also be the
character with whom we tend to
sympathize most keenly”.
Use this quote and work with a
partner to write a response to
determine the protagonist.
“The protagonist may be the character with the
greatest power.”
So, who has the greatest power?
Borden has dedicated his life to being a
magician, on stage and off, to the extent that it
causes his wife’s death, and the eventual death
of his twin brother. Angier is the better showman
but his reliance upon Cutter for magic, as well as
his decision to turn to science, reveals Borden as
the better magician. Yet, in establishing their
power, both lose a great deal : Borden, loses a
brother and the woman he loves, and Angier, has
to drown himself 100 times.
Cutter, in my opinion, was on the side of Borden at
the end, having chosen between the better of the two
magicians. Also, the ‘power’ held by each magician
changes constantly throughout the film.
In one scene, Angier sabotages Borden’s act; in
another, those roles switch. In one scene, Borden’s
Transported Man trick is superior; in another,
Angier’s device stumps even Borden (Note: Borden
always could figure out Angier’s tricks UNTIL Angier
resorted to Tesla’s machine).
All in all, I believe that Borden best fits this definition
because he ends the film a) Alive, and b) with some
future (his daughter).
“The Protagonist may also be the character with
whom we tend to sympathize most keenly”. Respond
Who do we feel most sympathy for?
I sympathized with Angier’s revenge motive for Borden’s
role in his wife’s death, until it is revealed that ‘one’
Angier, is alive while ‘one’ Borden has been sentenced
to death AND his daughter is in Angier’s custody. Angier
goes too far by sending Borden to his death. Yes, Borden
takes things too far as well. He lives his tricks, to the
point of obsessesion, but his last words to Fallon reveal
he is truly sorry:
“I’m sorry for a lot of things. I’m sorry about Sarah. I
didn’t mean to hurt her… I didn’t. You go and live your
life in full now, all right? You live for both of us.” That
apology, as well as the fact that Angier set Borden up,
threw all my sympathies behind the surviving Borden. I
even had no problem with Borden killing Angier at the
end.
In the film, Sarah’s nephew points out that for the
disappearing bird trick to work, something has to be
killed. Why is this an example of foreshadowing?
The fact that Borden has no problems getting his
hands dirty, and is happy to kill the bird, foreshadows
that he’s willing to make the sacrifice of living half a
life with Sarah to preserve the illusion of his greatest
trick. Angier won’t kill the bird but ultimately has no
problem disposing of the replications of himself.
What theme does this reveal?
Borden tells us that a Chinese magician's trick relies on
the man living his entire life as though he's a cripple.
He's really very strong, but the way his trick works is if
the audience thinks he's physically unable to do it.
Borden explains this illusion to us. What was real for
him? Do you think Borden and his twin were already
switching places, or do you think the Chinese magician
gave him the idea?
Borden's wife understands implicitly, from the very
beginning, that there are two Bordens. But she can't
verbalize it. To her it's perplexing, it’s two Bordens in
one body. Nolan gives us another clue when Borden
tells Fallon to talk to her. What is real for her?
TESLA: MAN OUT OF TIME
Colorado Springs Magnifying Transmitter
Nikola Tesla was a worldrenowned Serb-American
inventor, physicist,
mechanical engineer and
electrical engineer. In the
film Angier speaks to him
about obsession being a
good thing, to which
Tesla responds, “I am
their slave, and one day
they will choose to
destroy me.” He is
warning Angier not to
allow an obsession to rule
his life.
David Bowie plays Tesla
Nikola Tesla (10 July
1856 - 7 January 1943)
http://www.ted.com/talks/marco_tempest_the_electric_rise_and_fall_
of_nikola_tesla.html
Click on this link for a TED talk about the Magic of Science.
Aside from his work on electromagnetism and
engineering, Tesla is said to have contributed
in varying degrees to the fields of robotics,
ballistics, computer science, nuclear physics,
and theoretical physics.
In his later years, Tesla was regarded as a mad
scientist and became noted for making bizarre
claims about possible scientific developments.
Contemporary admirers of Tesla have deemed
him "the man who invented the twentieth
century. Tesla once said that magic was just
science that did not yet have an explanation.
Tesla and magic – still go together
David Blaine - street magician
Questions to ask as you analyze this film:
1. What does the film establish about its setting,
characters, and plot within the first few minutes?
Setting: Victorian Era England
& Colorado Springs, America (not obvious)
Characters:
2. We look to the Main Character to find out who
we will empathize with most. Through whose eyes
do we witness the story? Are we looking at this
character, or are we looking from within
this character’s experience?
3. What are the key scenes or sequences
in the film, and where do they occur?
4. What was the pacing of the film like? Slow? Quick?
Frenetic? Lyrical?
5. How would you describe the acting performances —
were they restrained, flamboyant, self-reflexive?
6. How do the actors’ costumes add to their characters
and make the film more plausible?
7. How does the film open? How does the film end?
Was the ending predictable, surprising, ambiguous?
8. Was the film composed mainly of stars or lesserknown actors, and how did this shape your response
to the characters, if at all?
9. How would you describe the cinematography?
Was it a highly stylized film, or one aiming for a less
intrusive and more “realistic” camera?
10 What is the Point of View of the film, how is the
story told?
11. How does the director assemble the film, how is it
edited together?
12. Does the film make interesting use of colour or
lighting? (Clue – this era transitioned from candles to
electricity.)
13. What was the soundtrack like, as well as the film’s
use of sound and sound effects?
14. What about the dialogue? Was there anything
noteworthy about how characters converse in the film?
15. How does this film link to the overall theme: What is
real? To what extent does it demonstrate a quest for
veracity in a maze of dreams and illusions?