The Prestige

The Prestige

The Prestige (2006) Christopher Nolan

The Prestige is a movie that shows the rivalry between magicians Alfred “The Professor” Borden and Robert “The Great Danton” Angier.   Their struggle is expressed through class warfare: Borden as The Professor, a working-class magician who gets his hands dirty, versus Angier as The Great Danton, a classy, superior showman whose accent makes him appear American. Obsession, secrecy, and sacrifice increase the battle, as both magicians contribute their fair share to a deadly duel of one-upmanship, with disastrous results.

One influential scene when discussing these themes is the scene where we are in Alfred Borden’s prison cell back in the present day, Borden comes to the end of Angier's diary, which gloats that Borden is being blamed for his “death”, until he's called out of his cell to say goodbye to Jess, his daughter, and meet the collector who wants to buy his secrets.   The director, Christopher Nolan, sets up the scene with several different camera shots and narratives to give this scene its importance.   It is the final climax of the movie for Borden and if you look closely at the scene the camera shot used to reveal the collector and what he signifies highlights the importance of the scene and also the collector ripping up Borden’s secret to his trick.

The biggest twist to the movie and this scene is which epitomizes the themes is when we discover who the collector is in the jailhouse where Borden is being kept and what he signifies.   In this movie it is told through flashbacks and present day leading up to this point of Borden’s execution for being accused of killing Angier.   We have known the whole time that Nolan has been using flashbacks and present tense to tell this story.   Borden is called by the guard saying that he has a visitor and thinks that it is his last chance to say good-bye to his daughter and thank the man who is going to be looking after her.   Nolan does a great job to set up the meeting...