Picturenose

Magic circle

Don’t you just love movies that play games? Joseph L Mankiewicz’s Sleuth (1972) obviously springs to mind, as does the more recent Memento (2002), directed by the same wunderkind, Christopher Nolan, who here takes us on a playful but dark journey into the disappearances and deception of turn-of-the-20th century magicians.

The title refers to the final part of a successful magic trick - the conjuror first makes ‘The Pledge’, that is, to show the audience something that’s allegedly ‘ordinary’. Then comes ‘The Turn’, where something extraordinary occurs to said object. But, of course, making something disappear isn’t enough - it has to come back, and, if it’s done right, you have ‘The Prestige’.

It probably won’t come as too much of a surprise when you realise that this approach is Nolan’s exact template for the film itself - even as far as an explanatory request in the press notes when the film was released, asking that journalists didn’t reveal too much of his “cinematic magic trick”.

Mum’s the word, but just to whet your appetite, a brief summary - beginning in the late 19th century, The Prestige charts the progress of two young magicians on the make, Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) and Alfred Borden (Christian Bale). At first partners, a tragic accident that leads to the death of Angier’s wife Julia (Piper Perabo) sets the pair on a life-long battle for supremacy and a fight to the death to find the ultimate magic trick. Borden seems to have it nailed with his amazing ‘Transported Man’ illusion, but Angier vows to go one step better, with the help of legendary visionary and inventor Nikolas Tesla (a great David Bowie), who may have nailed the secret of ‘real magic’. So has he? Ah ha - that would be telling…

With stalwart support from Michael Caine as Angier’s illusion-inventor Cutter, and the ubiquitous Scarlett Johannson cast pleasantly against type as the put-upon assistant between the pair, the fascination of what may or may not be going on never loses its grip, while Nolan’s script and the camera work do a good job of period recreation. But it’s the final twist that will get you, as it did even this reviewer - simple, but simply dazzling.

130 mins.