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![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) cleolinda | |
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Man, I wish to God I hadn't been spoiled as to each magician's big secret--it wasn't my fault! I know I hunt down spoilers sometimes, but this time I just went to Wikipedia to find out what the basic premise of the novel was, because I wanted to know how they started being rivals instead of friends, and it frickin' GAVE THE WHOLE STORY AWAY--because I'm pretty sure my mind would have been frickin' blown if I hadn't known. Because it was pretty blown as it was, particularly the last shot--I mean, once Angier said "Look around" in the theater basement, I knew what he must be referring to, but I still wasn't prepared for the way Nolan just hit us with that last shot and ran. I also wasn't prepared for--well, let's say the movie has a different ending than what Wikipedia claims the book has, and I was kind of upset on that character's behalf. But the dueling journals thing? Fantastic. David Bowie? Outstanding. And he actually acted, with an accent, rather than playing himself--which, don't get me wrong, good times, but if I wanna watch Labyrinth I'll fire up the DVD player. And the Goblin King had Gollum for an assistant! Of course he did. I don't want people clicking on the first cut only to have their eyes wander downwards accidentally, so: swipe! >> The thing is, I'm still not sure I understand how the real machine worked--was a duplicate transported while you stood still, or was a duplicate produced and you were transported? And quite frankly, I don't think I want to understand. Much like the basic enigma of Picnic at Hanging Rock, the machine is that much more awful if you don't know--if, like Angier says, you don't know who's in the box and who's the prestige. Because I really do think that the duplicate was a literal duplicate, right down to memory and personality and consciousness; it was literally one person in two places at once. And while it's awful to think that Angier had to face that tank every night, knowing that he had to die and a duplicate would take over, I think it's more awful if he never knew which one he was, because his consciousness experienced both events in different bodies. It doesn't matter which one he was, because the man on the other end of the trick, Transported Angier, would never know which one he was--the "original" Angier who was always transported and survived, or a duplicate who would have to die the next night. And even if you believe that he always survived and that the duplicate was the one who was produced on the spot, that's still the Angier who shot Transported Angier the first time, so if Transported Angier is the original Angier, he was killed by Duplicate Angier the first time he practiced the trick ("No! I'm--"). I'm kind of the opinion that the duplicate was the one transported, and that Angier merely killed his first duplicate, and that "No!" was to indicate that their consciousnesses were identical. But then? It would be Original Angier who drowned in the tank and Duplicate Angier who survived, only to drown in the tank the next night. And so on. But again, I like the idea that the man who came out alive didn't know whether he'd been duplicated or merely transported--whether he was a constant survivor or doomed to die the next night, and that both happened simultaneously and continuously. Schrödinger's Magician, if you will. Probably the best thing about the movie is that it leaves you with all of this to chew on.<< ETA: Question: What did Sarah think Alfred was? "I know what you really are!" Well, apparently she didn't really know or she at least would have understood why "he" was being so schizo--so what did she actually think he was? Did she say and I just missed it? Warning: Given that people who have seen the movie will probably want to discuss it, there will probably be major spoilers in the comments. Don't go browsing unless you've already seen it. Trust me, you don't want to know the twist(s).     Tags: movie discussion, movies, the prestige
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Comments
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I'm curious about what Sarah meant as well.
I guessed a large part of the movie when Fallon was seen more often, but my mind was still blown at the end. I couldn't guess everything, which is great. I went with two people who really wanted to see it, and I gave in to the idea that I might as well watch SOMEthing. I'm glad I went, though, because even if I wasn't excited about seeing it before then, I was excited afterwards.
I think the only thing I was disappointed about was that before seeing the movie, I was hoping that someone would get into the Dark Arts of Magic. But no, it was just science. Which, of course, can be kick ass too, I suppose. :)
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My understanding is that the Angier that walks into the machine is the one that falls through the trapdoor and drowns, while the new duplicate shows up for the prestige. However, like you say, the duplicates are exact, and both Angiers are equally Angier...it's just that the original Angier was Angier for longer, you know? Whatever the case is, Original Angier is long dead by the time we reach the end of the movie, because he was either shot by his duplicate or he died the first time he did the trick with the water tank. Awesome.
Also, something that I think a lot of people haven't really conceptualized well is the fact that the Borden/Fallon situation is pretty much exactly the same; just like Angier and Angier Clone are equally Angier, Borden and Fallon are equally Borden and equally Fallon.
Oh, and lastly, something that didn't sink in until well after the movie: Just like Borden was living an act with the Borden/Fallon thing, and just like the Chinese magician was living an act with his Cripple routine, Ruper Angier was living an act. It's not that he faked his death and used the Lord Whatshisname to trick Borden into spilling his secrets. It's that he really IS Lord Whatshisname and has been his whole life--it was Rupert Angier that was an act so that he could protect his family and real identity while doing what he loved. What is truly and completely awesome about this, is that it means that he was faking an American accent the whole time, and the reason that's SO COOL is that a few times during the movie I thought to myself, "This isn't a terribly American accent, but I thought Jackman could do a better one than this...it's a little bit off." Now, I don't know if he was really doing this, but if Hugh Jackman was purposely making his American accent just a tiny bit off on purpose, because he was playing an English Lord pretending to be American, then I may have to hung him down and marry him RIGHT NOW.
Um, this is a long comment. Bye.
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Bringing over the thread from the other post, so we don't have to worry about spoiling anyone. :-) You guys: here there be spoilers!
I see what you mean about Borden coming off as the sociopath early on. The way it's set up, Angier comes off more sympathetic (as you understand that his motivation is Julia) and you just *don't* know why Borden's so hot-and-cold. At the same time, though, I really did believe that Borden wasn't responsible for what happened to Julia -- even if he did tie the harder knot, like you said, she seemed to know and agree it was okay -- and it wasn't like he didn't seem *remorseful* about it. But Angier couldn't accept that, and when he went into the bullet trick, he was completely intending to kill Borden on the spot, if Fallon hadn't intervened. And you know *why* he'd do it, but that's why I feel like he's really more at fault for everything that comes afterward.
Oddly, Borden humiliating Angier during The New Transported Man *didn't* bother me all that much -- it made me laugh. I mean, Angier had stolen his trick *directly*, and was trying to run him out of business with it. I was more bothered earlier on when Borden ruined the birdcage trick, because it seemed so unnecessary (and also -- poor dove!), and I *know* it was a sort of revenge for the bullet catch, but still, it didn't seem so *personal*. Like, Borden could have come back with his Transported Man and done excellently without first having taken down Angier's show. But iirc I think one of the brothers did that without the other's consent (yes?), so I don't know.
(I lost my train of thought somewhere. Hee.)
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Wow, you may be exactly the person I need to talk to, then. Since I'm trying to inject more science into Black Ribbon, and I just reread The Devil in the White City, I was thinking of involving Tesla in some way--talking about what he was doing, having other characters talk about him or be acquainted with him offstage, something. Not necessarily having him as an actual character, but that might change, depending on what research turns up. I'm looking at the period of roughly 1875-1890, which seems to be before The Prestige, although the general state of science in Black Ribbon is that it's a bit sped up (an attempt at the steampunk genre, basically), so I'm having to find out what really *was* possible at the time and several years afterwards in order to do that. It's an alternate universe based largely in reality, just a little bit skewed and a little bit advanced. Which is a longwinded way of saying, is there something you could recommend, like a really good biography?
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From: metonymy |
Date: October 30th, 2006 12:53 am (UTC) |
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I read the book this summer, and OMG THE MOVIE IS SO MUCH MORE FUCKED UP AND SCARY AND FREAKY. I stopped going "ooh hot" about thirty seconds in, because - murder? And - oh, the whole thing. It was brilliantly done, and I may actually like the film better than the book. Shivery. I have so many questions left -
* which Borden tied the knot (I think it's pretty clear on screen that the knot is different from the first performance)? After a certain point I started referring to them as Asshole!Borden and Nice!Borden.
* When did Cutter figure out that they weren't just doubles on stage but actual twins leading a single life?
* What did Sarah know? I personally think that Sarah knew that he was two different people, she offered him one last chance to admit to her what she already knew, and when he (i.e. Asshole Borden) didn't take that chance, she killed herself.
* How much did Olivia know, for that matter?
I also had the impression from the book that the real Angier was transported and what was left behind was a hollow shell, not a real person. Because they're all perfectly preserved and not natural. (And the reason the framing, modern-day first-person narrator is twinned is because something went wrong with the apparatus after not being used for fifty years or whatever.) Also, it took me an embarassingly long time to figure out that Fallon was the other twin - I guess I figured they were just hanging out in the workshop or whatever.
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My theory is, Sarah just had a feeling that something was off, but couldn't really put her finger on it, which was what eventually drove her to desperation, and hence, suicide. I mean, if she KNEW, then she'd probably be having answers and won't be so effed up about it in her head. I think this is the case because of what she said about that "catching bullet" trick, when she said that it seemed so obvious, when Alfred revealed it to her, but no so obvious without Alfred actually telling her what the secret was. So without Alfred telling her, she KNEW, but she really didn't know.
I really felt bad for Sarah, though. She was lovely! And they had to mess her head up like that!
I'd like to believe that there's one more Angier running around, and my friends and I think they shouldn't have killed off the clones! They should've donated it to the world! A world with many Hugh Jackmans! Woo!
I expected Bowie to break out into "Dance magic dance!" Hee hee. But in all seriousness, he was excellent. And the Gollum comment. Ha. Of course, the Goblin King won't accept anyone else, fools.
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I caught a lot of stuff early on and was shamefully smug about it. I knew pretty quickly that Fallon had to be someone in disguise, because they never let the camera linger on him; I knew it couldn't be Jackman or Caine because of the height, and thought perhaps the disguise was hiding a woman. But then I asked myself if it could be Bale, and it all fell into place. This was after he'd gone through the "I had a double, and that gave him power over me..." scene. So I didn't expect that this was a brother or a twin, but a very good double he'd picked up, and now the double wanted to be in on Bale's life, and Bale was the sort of personality who would go for it, yeah. The whole "cripple and the fishbowl" thing.
I was saying, "Jackman's not dead, he's set Bale up for his murder," from the first scene, but what I didn't expect was that Tesla's machine actually worked. I thought Jackman had picked up Rook again, and that it was Rook who'd died in the tank. The idea that Tesla's machine had worked and that last shot of the film...woo. Fabulous.
What I got from Jackman's statement about, "I never knew if I'd be in the box or in the Prestige" was that Tesla's machine does not make a clone duplicate, so to speak. The new creation is also you, and Jackman's consciousness was in both bodies, so that every night one part of him was actually drowning in the box. Because otherwise he'd be making sure he wasn't the one to go into the box each night! So I don't think anyone can convince me otherwise on that.
I also said, "Damn, that looks like David Bowie," as soon as Tesla showed up. And I kept looking for his mismatched eyes, though it was very hard to spot that because of the lighting. I didn't really see a clear shot of his eyes until the second Tesla scene.
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