Explanation of the higher-level points:Angier’s story: Angier was really Lord Caldlow the entire time, from the beginning of the movie, to the end. He pretended to be Angier so he could perform magic, without anyone knowing who he really was.
His wife was killed in an accident, so he took out for revenge against the man he felt was responsible for it, Borden.
Angier’s trick was performed with Tesla’s machine, which cloned him. The clone would generally take over for Angier, and Angier would be killed each night, as part of the trick.
Borden’s story: Borden had a twin brother. Each of them took turns being Borden, and being Fallon (the assistant). We don’t know which one was really which one, and if their names were really Alfred and/or Fallon.
One of them loved Sarah, the other loved Olivia.
Their trick was performed using a double, exactly how Cutter said it was performed.
One of them was hung in jail, the other confronted Caldlow/Angier, and shot him, leaving him for dead. He then picked up his daughter Jess, and went on with his life.
—————–
Clues? There’s a ton of them throughout the movie. And if you want to see them all, watch the movie a second time. Every time I watch it, I find new things that I’d missed before. Here’s a list of all the clues I’ve found, and the times they occur. (The time stamp is according to the Region 1 encoded DVD, and is in minutes:seconds format)
00:45 - We see Angier’s multiple top-hats, indicating that Tesla’s machine works.
02:04 - Angier uses blind stage hands, so they won’t see the dead clones.
02:47 - Angier/clone falls into the water, and drowns.
05:22 - Fallon is seen with Jess (the daughter) in the courtroom.
14:13 - “No one can do my trick,” Borden says, indicating that he’s put his entire life into the trick.
16:41 - “This is the trick” Borden says about the Asian magician. He can pick it out so quickly, because he’s doing the same thing.
19:23 - “But where’s his brother?” Sarah’s nephew asks Borden, foreshadowing that Borden has a brother.
20:20 - “Never show anyone, they’ll beg you and they’ll flatter you for the secret,” he says to the nephew, outside the theater.
21:09 - Sarah locks the door, with Borden outside. The twin brother’s already inside.
27:14 - “I’m sorry, I don’t know” - when Angier asks Borden which knot he tied. He doesn’t know, because the brother tied the knot.
28:00 - When Sarah says she’s pregnant, Borden’s first response is, “That’s great, we should have told Fallon.” Borden reacts this way because Fallon was actually the father.
30:07 - When Borden says he loves Sarah, she responds, “Not today, you don’t.” Sarah knows that the Borden in front of her doesn’t really love her. The other one does.
33:03 - “I told him the truth, that I have fought with myself over that night. One half of me swearing blind that I tied a simple slipknot, the other half convinced that I tied the langford double. I could never know for sure.” - Borden himself isn’t sure which knot he tied. The two Bordens fight over it.
33:26 - Sarah says, “I don’t understand how it can be bleeding again,” in regards to Borden’s two severed fingers. They’re bleeding “again” because they had just been cut off of the other twin.
42:10 - Tesla’s assistant says “Two of ‘em,” in a completely unrelated conversation. But still, it’s a hidden clue.
46:44 - “I love you,” Borden says to Sarah, who replies, “Today it’s true.” This is the Borden who does love her.
48:05 - Fallon always wears gloves, to hide the fact that he’s missing the same two fingers as Borden.
51:30 - Tesla asks Angier, “Have you considered the cost?” in regards to the cloning machine. Losing one’s life every night is not an easy task.
54:55 - Cutter says “He uses a double.” It’s his simple explanation of the Transported Man trick.
56:20 - When Borden buys the house for Sarah, she says, “But we talked about this last week.” Borden says, “You caught me in a wrong mood.” She had talked about it with the other Borden.
1:04:30 - Fallon leaves when Olivia enters, so she can’t see who he really is. She would be able to tell.
1:07:58 - Borden admits to Root (Angier’s double) that, “I used a double.”
1:10:49 - “Cutter was right, he uses a double.” Olivia says to Angier, explaining about the “extra wigs” not used in the show.
1:11:10 - Olivia says, “He lives his act, don’t you see?”
1:16:52 - “How does he do it?” Angier asks Cutter, who replies, “The same way he always has.” Cutter insists Borden uses a double.
1:19:07 - “I had a terrible ordeal today,” Borden says to Sarah, as to why he’s drinking. Of course he did, he was buried alive as Fallon.
1:19:30 - “Secrets are my life,” Borden says to Sarah, “Stop performing.” she yells at him.
1:21:50 - When Fallon is taking Olivia home, he stares at her through the glass of the carriage. This is the Borden who loves Olivia.
1:22:00 - “To open myself to such a relationship, to the dangers of such an affair, I need assurances of fidelity, of love. I had to be sure. I know a way, it’s the only way to know her mind.” - Borden isn’t talking about cheating on his wife, really. He’s talking about how one Borden can be in love with Olivia, without Olivia giving away the secrets.
1:25:30 - We see Angier’s top hat duplicated, along with the handful of black cats.
1:26:38 - “I promised, did I?” Borden says to his daughter Jess, in regards to going to the zoo. The other Borden had promised to take her.
1:27:22 - “It’s so much harder when you don’t” Sarah says, in regards to the days that he loves her.
1:27:44 - “Jess wants to go to the zoo, I thought maybe you could take her,” Borden says to Fallon.
1:27:56 - “She knows,” Borden tells Fallon about Sarah.
1:28:38 - “I saw Fallon hanging around today,” Olivia tells Borden. Fallon (that day) was the one who loved her.
1:32:44 - “Olivia means nothing to me,” Borden tells Sarah. This is true; the other Borden is the one who loves Olivia.
1:33:05 - Sarah says she’s going to tell everyone what “You really are.” Borden says, “Sarah, shut up! You can’t talk like this.”
1:33:20 - Fallon carries Jess off.
1:34:07 - “Do you love me?” Sarah asks Borden. “Not today, no” he replies. The other Borden is the one who loves her.
1:38:49 - “I never loved Sarah,” Borden says to Olivia “part of me loved her, but part of me loves you.” The two separate “parts” are two separate people.
1:43:40 - “Why can’t you outthink him?” Borden says to Fallon. Fallon has no gloves on in this scene, the only time in the movie he’s gloveless, however he left hand is hidden under the table.
1:44:53 - “Both of us, leave him alone,” Borden says to Fallon.
1:49:22 - “Fallon’s missed you too, we both have.” Borden says to Jess, while in jail.
1:54:03 - “You were right, I should have left him alone. I’m sorry. I’m sorry for a lot of things. I’m sorry about Sarah” - Borden says to Fallon from jail. At this point, Fallon was the Borden who loved Sarah. The “I should have left him alone” is a big clue, which goes back to 9 minutes earlier, when Borden tells Fallon to leave him alone. At this point, they’re switched. The Borden who said “leave him alone” is now Fallon.
1:54:11 - Borden tosses the red bouncing ball to Fallon, just like he did in the act.
1:57:30 - Fallon enters Angier’s theater.
1:58:08 - The red ball bounces to Angier.
1:58:30 - Fallon comes out of the shadows as Borden.
1:58:43 - Angier figures it out, saying, “A brother. A twin. You were Fallon the whole time.” Borden replies, “No, we were both Fallon, we were both Borden.”
1:59:54 - “We each loved one of them”, Borden explains how they loved Sarah, and Olivia
2:01:59 - Angier shoots the first clone in a flashback, and explains how he cloned himself for the trick to Borden.
This movie is fantastic, and I highly recommend you check it out, if you haven’t already. If there’s anything I missed, or something that doesn’t make sense, please leave a comment, and I’ll do what I can to address it for you. I hope this helps clarify some of the questions you’ve had about The Prestige, I know it was a lot of fun to write, and it’s always great to get to watch the movie over and over again.
Release Date 8/29/2008 
Have you considered that perhaps the overarching theme of this film is that there is no such thing as magic, and that in turn, Tesla’s machine was only a prop? It seems an odd fit to set a science fiction movie (that is what it would have to be categorized if you believe that a machine could instantly create duplicates of a human being) in a historically accurate period piece, that references actual historical figures and places. If one interprets the film as being bounded by the same reality that you, as the viewer, know to be true, then he would be forced consider how the Angier trick really worked, because there is no such thing as a cloning machine. But, as Cutter said at the very end of the film, you don’t want to know, because “people want to be fooled.”
I content that it was Nolan’s intent to prove this point, and by having so many folks leaving the theater believing that this was a science fiction movie, I believe he accomplised that with flying colors.
The explanation, grounded in reality, is simple, and not dissimilar from Borden’s. They are doubles, not clones. In the case of Fallon/Borden, the double is a twin, and can be trusted. In the case of Angier, the double is a look-alike, and because he can’t be trusted (Angier learned that lesson earlier), the double is drowned each time the trick is performed. The movie doesn’t clearly indicate how many performances occured, but based on what we hear in the film, Angier presmably had 100 doubles at his disposal prior to taking the show public, which could be leveraged to create the “100 shows only” limited engagement. (Lord Caldlow/Angier had lots of money, and visibility across multiple continents to execute a search of this magnitude.) Each “duplicate” Angier (the viewer only actually sees 2, the one identified by Cutter as Angier in the morgue that ultimately resulted in Borden’s hanging, and the one floating in the tank at the film’s conclusion in the basement of the burning theater) represents a murdered actor, engaged by Lord Caldlow for one night of service.
Thanks for the comment Vince.
There’s a few fatal flaws with your theory. If Tesla’s machine was only a prop (which seems to be a lot of various people/blogs’ theory), how would you explain the multiplying top hats, and black cats? I could partially buy the theory of Angier hiring 100 doubles, but I doubt he’d buy multiple hats and cats, and act so surprised about it.
I’ve read a lot of blogs who seem to think the same as you do, that Angier simply hired body doubles, and it’s just not plausible. If that were the case, Christopher Nolan would have explained that to us, at the end of the movie, when everything else got explained. Why? Simply. That’s how he makes movies. The wrap-up at the end of the movie would have included all the explanation that we needed, and wouldn’t have left out the 100 body doubles that you’re implying there was.
As for the comment you made about “the one floating in the tank at the film’s conclusion”, if you look closely, all the tanks in the shot have floating masses in them. Presumably the clones that Angier drowned each night.
While many people, including yourself, try to find the “overarching” or “underlying” theme to the movie, I have to say that there isn’t one. Nolan didn’t make this movie to try to dissuade you from believing in magic, or to challenge the historical accuracy of Nikola Tesla. He made the movie simply to make a movie that would challenge the mind. And I’m sure somewhere in there, he had the thought that it’d spark heated debates across the internet. Nolan’s a brilliant film-maker, and every movie he makes in the future will instantly go on my must-see list.
Other theories are gladly welcomed, but I stick to my original theories explained in my post. If someone has concrete, provable evidence to the contrary, I’d be glad to hear you out.
Wow! I just watched the movie and as many people, didn’t understand a lot of things.
I’m glad I read these explanations, I’d probably agree with the clone explanation. Even though I am a little disappointed that they added science fiction, I would’ve prefered the 100 look alikes.
But then again, I also prefered Hugh Jackman to live :P but that’s just a personal prefernce.
While it seems the Borden had a twin brother, and eluded to it over and over in the film, I’m still not a 100% it was a twin brother instead of a clone. I guess what has kept me wondering is that when Fallon is trapped when he falls through the staircase after following Angier and then shortly after buries him alive, Borden is forced to give Angier his ’secret’ for the transporter trick. However, when Angier reads what Borden had written it says Tesla, which would have me to believe that Borden or Fallon had gone to Tesla looking to find a prop that further his ‘illusion’ and had created a clone form either Borden or Fallon. Also, earlier in the film when Angier is talking to Tesla’s assistant in the hotel, he makes it known to the assistant he knew Tesla has built another machine for another magician, and when the assistant asked why he would want the same thing, Angier replies “Call it a professional rivalry”. However, all that being said I still tend to lean towards the stronger explanation that Borden and Fallon were brothers. Maybe my theory is way off, haha who knows but I thought I’d throw it out there for you guys to chew on.
Hi Julian, thanks for the comment.
I could see how you’d think that Borden had a clone, after all, there’s quite a “clone yourself” theme to the movie.
However, if you remember when Angier first goes to see Tesla to see the machine work, it doesn’t. Tesla says “Exact science is not, well, an exact science”, which angers Angier, because he assumes that Tesla’s already built another machine, for Borden. Which he never did. We find this out later. Tesla’s assistant told Angier that Tesla had built one for another magician earlier, because he knew Tesla’s funding had run out, and they needed the money.
When Fallon gets buried, and Borden gives up the “secret”, he’s not giving up anything. He’s simply adding to the ruse of things. He wants Angier to believe that Tesla made him a machine that can transport him from one place to another, when he never did. (This coincides with his entire fake “journal”, too)
Hope that helps.
There not clones there doubles, its quite simple when you think about it, limited number of shows, and if you think back to the tricks with the birds, 1 dies 1 survives for another day. Its that same trick just done with people!
Great film tho :)
Everyone’s entitled to their opinion, unfortunately, yours is wrong.
If they were doubles, how do you explain the first time that Angier clones himself? (The clone that he shoots) How do you explain the scene where Angier drowns?
When we’re shown the real double, that Angier performs his transported man with, we can clearly tell the difference between the two. When Angier drowns, there’s no difference.
He had no twin, he hired no doubles. Tesla’s machine worked, and he cloned himself 100 times, 100 nights, and killed 100 clones.
Right your are mike, that was the first time i had watched the film, ive have since watched it again! It’s hard to take all in first tome round. However one more question, i thought that there was another tesla machine made for borden, does he use this to make a copy of himself aka fallon ( i know they switch themselves round) or are they actually brothers? Im still confused…. I can see a third time of watching on the cards
Borden never had a machine from Tesla.
See This comment, where I explain about that.
I’m not sure if I agree with this part, but I might just have to watch it again:
1:19:07 - “I had a terrible ordeal today,†Borden says to Sarah, as to why he’s drinking. Of course he did, he was buried alive as Fallon.
1:19:30 - “Secrets are my life,†Borden says to Sarah, “Stop performing.†she yells at him.
1:21:50 - When Fallon is taking Olivia home, he stares at her through the glass of the carriage. This is the Borden who loves Olivia.
I would think that the one who is Borden in that scene is the one who loves Olivia, not Sarah, seeing as how he flirts with Olivia at the table when they first arrive, and is cruel to Sarah.
So then at 1:21:50, how can Fallon be the one who loves Olivia? Would the one who loves Sarah really be that mean to her at the table?
Thanks for the response, Kerri.
I don’t necessarily think that the Borden at dinner is the one who loves Olivia. If you notice, he’s quite drunk at dinner, which could explain his “friendliness” to Olivia. The majority of the flirting that happens at dinner, is Olivia calling Borden “Freddy”, which Sarah seems to hate.
I may need to watch that scene again, you may be right, or it may be confusing. For now, I’m going to say that it’s due to his drunkenness.
At first I thought Kerri might be right, because Borden is really cruel to Sarah at the dinner table, but the part when Fallon takes Olivia home makes sense that he’s the one who loves her. I’m going to have to watch it again, but I think maybe Borden-that-loves-Sarah (in this scene) is just really drunk and fed up with his double life.
This is beginning to explain the movie for me, but what I don’t understand is:
Why did Cutter side with Borden? He helped Angiers capture Fallon and was then shot by him.
Did Borden have the twin with him throughout the movie?? Is that why Borden couldn’t remember which knot was tied??
Which Borden actually died at the prison?? Wouldn’t that matter? I mean..yeah they were twins, but they couldn’t have the same personality.
Cutter was testifying against Borden iin court. How would he not know that Angiers was cloning himself?? He was right there all the time. He had to know that there were clones dying.
I don’t think it’s fair to say that Cutter chose sides, it’s more along the line that he just went with the flow. At first, he started out with both of them, and eventually was working with just Angier (for most of the picture). Once he realized what Angier was doing, he sort of distanced himself from the entire scenario, and decided that the person who needed the most help, was Borden, and ultimately, Borden’s daughter.
Borden’s twin (Fallon) was there the entire movie.
The Borden who loved Olivia died in prison, which is why he said “I’m sorry about everything, I’m sorry about Sarah.”
Cutter didn’t know about the clones, because Angier never allowed him backstage. The entire crew that worked back stage were blind, and Cutter never knew anything about the clones, or the killing.
Thanks Mike for explaining so much! It seems the major ‘misdirection’ of the movie is that, while Fallon is hanging around for most of the movie, he’s always in the background and not much of a character.
Of your whole explanation, the one key sentence is “Tesla’s machine really works and Angier clones himself.” Frankly, I was disappointed and angry when I read this. Although I agree with you 95% (but then, why exactly 100 performances? Was that the warranty on the machine?), the rest of the movie seemed ‘real’ and this is in the realm of ‘impossible’. Especially since the movie ties the machine to a historic figure - we all know who Tesla was, and we know neither he, nor anyone else, invented a cloning machine. So if this is the trick that makes the movie works, it’s a cheap dirty cheat.
That aside, it brings up a new unanswered question: If the machine really works, what went ‘wrong’ the night Borden went under the stage? Shouldn’t the cloned Angier still have re-appeared like he always does? Perhaps he did reappear but chose not to reveal himself to the crowd, instead ‘running away’ so that Borden would be framed for murder. But then, how did he know Borden was under the stage for this particular performance?
This appears to me, to be a problem with the film and not a problem with your explanation.
As to the film, I now feel that what was an utterly brilliant film is nothing but a cheat.
–Gary
Hey Gary - I agree with you, knowing that the machine did work kind of ruins the whole “magic” thing. Though, I just read the book (which is pretty good, too), and I’m glad that Nolan didn’t go that route. The book’s even more far fetched.
The book explains a little more, in detail, that Angier had a bit of OCD. This is really the only thing that would make sense of the 100 performances part. That, and I think that Angier knew if he said “only 100 performances” it’d catch Borden’s attention, and it surely did.
As for what ‘went wrong’ that night. Nothing. Everything went exactly as planned. Angier framed Borden for his “murder”, as the ultimate bit of revenge for Julia’s death. The clone should have technically appeared where it was supposed to. Or, one could argue that the clone was the one dying, and Angier himself was being transported. So, Angier simply knew that on that night, not to reappear on the balcony. I’m not sure exactly how he knew Borden was under the stage that night. They don’t give any hints as to how hew knew.
While we surely know that Tesla didn’t invent a machine to clone people, that doesn’t mean he didn’t invent a machine that could send electricity wirelessly, to a “great distance”. Sure, the whole “clone” thing may be a bit far fetched, but keep in mind this is a “science fiction” movie, of sorts. You have to let your imagination take part in your enjoyment. Simply because something isn’t 100% factual doesn’t mean the movie’s a cheat. It’s still a great movie, and a great story.
Totally agree with your explanation. I find myself wondering which Borden/Fallon is in each scene!
My thoughts on the “100 performances” is that Angier wasn’t totally comfortable with killing a clone/ himself each night, so wanted to limit the performances. Also, seems as though they didn’t dispose of the bodies (as we see at the end of the movie with all the tanks), so couldn’t store more than 100 bodies. He may have been afraid of eventually getting caught.
All these explanations are great - they really helped me understand this movie better.
I’m still wondering though, what was the point of Thomas Edison in this movie? Like when Angier threatened Tesla that he would tell Edison’s assisstants about his machine… what was the point of that?
Gary Davis wrote,
“If the machine really works, what went ‘wrong’ the night Borden went under the stage? Shouldn’t the cloned Angier still have re-appeared like he always does? Perhaps he did reappear but chose not to reveal himself to the crowd, instead ‘running away’ so that Borden would be framed for murder. But then, how did he know Borden was under the stage for this particular performance?”
No, if you watch carefully, Borden is screaming for several moments as he discovers the drowning while the audience is hushed. The entire theater can hear him. Thiis would allow the replicated Angier to know Borden discovered the drowning double, and therefore would not make his appearance at the back of the theater.
Hi Danny, glad I could help.
The part about Edison is in the movie, most likely to bring the historical truth to the movie, to a higher level. It’s a fairly known, and proven, fact that Tesla worked for Edison, before being fired. It’s also commonly argued that Tesla invented most of (if not all) Edison’s inventions, and that Edison could only take credit for them, because he was wealthy, and paid Tesla well.
Once Tesla was no longer working for Edison, a rivalry (similar to Borden and Angier) began.
If the Tesla character interests you at all, check out the Wikipedia page for Tesla. It’s an interesting read, of an interesting person.
Thanks, Mike for your explanation!!
I have another question– see if anyone can help!
When Angier’s wife drowned during the trick-gone-wrong, it was obviously because she couldn’t slip her hands out of the knot. Now, did Borden tie the knot like that on purpose, like did he mean to kill her. Because there’s a look between them that hints some tension or something between them. Did he kill her on purpose?
I don’t think it was on purpose for a two reasons.
1) There was no feud at this point in the movie. Borden would have had no reason to kill Julia.
2) If he had deliberately killed her, I don’t think he would have been so remorseful about it for the rest of the film. Every time Angier confronted Borden about it, Borden genuinely looked upset that he didn’t know the answer to the “which knot did you tie?” question.
Hope that helps. If anyone has any other theories, I’m all ears.
Danny - I think the look you noticed was because Julia knew Borden was tying the other knot. In the argument with Cutter over the knot, she’s on Borden’s side.
In the scene where she dies, it looks as if Borden starts to tie the first knot, looks at Julia and shares a “knowing look,” for lack of a better term, and then ties the other knot.
I think that ‘Fallon’ was a clone and not a twin. Hence the reason he wrote ‘Tesla’ on the paper and gave it to Angier. ‘The method is the keyword.’
Tesla is the method of the trick because he cloned Borden, making the trick possible.
Just a theory.
Thanks for the comment Trev,
Fallon wasn’t a clone, I’m not sure why you’d think that.
Borden wrote “Tesla” on the piece of paper, only because it was the key to the (fake) journal’s encyption. Not because it was really his “secret”, it was just the cipher key.
Everything in the movie points to Fallon and Borden being brothers, not clones. Borden never met Tesla personally (despite attending his performances on electricity to fool Angier), and Tesla never built a machine for Borden (which he explains to Angier later on in the movie.)
Just finished watching the movie and it was great. In the final scene after, Fallon kills Angier they show a clone in water tank, is it me or did the clone appear to blink. Just a thought.
1. Is Fallon ever mentioned in the credits?
2. Is there anywhere in the movie where the idents’ call each other by different names?
3. When things like Tesla’s clone machine are made to be “for real” in the context of the
movie why don’t people “believe” it when the whole idea of a movie is to make you
believe what “aint real is”?
Last but not least. I’ve worked and been close friends with idents’ and believe me they not only could finish each others thoughts and sentences but knew by nods and looks exactly what the other was thinking. That’s why I believe they were idents’ not clones.
Hi Kealoha, thanks for the comment.
1) Fallon is only mentioned in the comments as Borden/Fallon - Christian Bale (Memory may deceive me, though) However, in the screen play (which Christine got me last month), he’s referred to as “Bernard”
2)They never address each other by name, other than the one time Borden introduces Fallon to Sarah, when he shows her “Catch the bullet”
3) I can’t speak for others as to what they believe or not. All I can say is that I enjoyed the movie for what it was… a movie.
Hey, I was wondering… How did Borden write in his journal… Cause I wanna do that, I wanna make mixed up letters that are based on one word! But how can one translate that or even write off of that one word?
Anthony »
The method which Borden wrote the journal, is a form of cryptography. You can learn more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptography.
Unfortunately, I don’t know much more about it, and can’t offer any more help.
I am sooo pleased I found your information. We decided to watch a film but at the last minute changed our minds and watched The Prestige. In my panic to turn it over, we starte watching one that had already started but we did not know this at the time. So at the end we were rather fuddled. We missed that the two used to be pals and that his wife had been killed in an act. We also managed to miss that the machine was a cloning machine. So we ended up thinking both of the magicians were twins. I cannot wait to watch it again FROM THE BEGINNING this time so it will all make sense. Very good though. And thanks for clearing my brain, I knew I couldn’t sleep until I worked it out.
Thanks for the various posts on this blog it has explained a lot to me. Only one thing still remains a mystery to me, In the movie Borden tells Angier the cypher to his diary is the word/name Tesla he also mentions that this name is also the secret to the transporting man magic trick, If this is so either he was telling the truth and had known that Tesla had made a cloneing machine (In which case why would he tell his arch rival to look there?) or he was spinning a yarn to lead his rival on a wild goose chase (This i would consider more probable, However this leads to the movie taking a massive leap of faith with the viewing publics imagination because it would mean that Borden did not know about the Tesla cloneing machine at all, yet it had been invented.) or lastly and is what i think makes the most sense (Borden had somehow heard about the cloneing machine that Tesla was working on but never thought it would work, so it was quite safe as far as Borden was concerned to send Angier on this goose chase anyhow.)
Stephen » You’re right, on the second part. Telling Angier that “Tesla” was the cypher to his book was a ruse. The entire book was a fake, to throw Angier off track.
While the cypher did decode the journal, the journal itself was a fake, written specifically to get to Angier, to fool him.
I have been reading the comments and have found them useful and mind clearing, but im still kind of open to Borden having a Clone. Im open to this because its too strange that just by shear coincidence Borden writes down Tesla’s name on the paper and it turns out that he can actually make the trick possible. it seems that Borden must have known he could make a machine possible of cloning. and also to support that how did Borden know that angier spent a fortune on this machine if he never knew Tesla?
But i find myself contradicting myself because if Borden did make a clone he would have known what angier was doing in his tricks when he first saw the machine and the electricty, because he would have done it himself. AHHHH!!! it should have been explained more cleary on the twin or clone part. Absolutly Great film tho!!!!
Mike. As soon as i watched the film, i thought the machine didnt work, my wife mocked me. I believed vince’s comment of Aug 18th 2007. But as you say, it has flaws
You say
If they were doubles, how do you explain the first time that Angier clones himself? (The clone that he shoots) How do you explain the scene where Angier drowns?
How do you explain how the cloning machine works?!!!!
If this is a science fiction film, then the clone works, simple. If it is a period thriller then Angier is a rich OCD man who goes out of his way, creating realistic doubles to create an illusion.
Which mystery is mnore valid? A machine based on electricity that clones, or a man who managed to fool people that doubles were infact him.
Borden apparently did it for a whole film, so why not Angier for the last 15 minutes?. He could have killed his first double with the gun to make the step from magician to murderer, that would explain the shooting? Then, when he foud killing to be acceptable, he killed every night. Far fetched? Yes. Asd far fetched as cloning people (this wasnt star wars episode 2)?, NO
The real magic of this film is that there are clearly 2 possible explainations of the mystery of this film and we really dont know which is real. Cutler, sums it up at the end
“Now you’re looking for the secret… but you won’t find it because you’re not really looking. You don’t really want to know the secret… You want to be fooled. ”
Which ever theory you believe, YOU ARE WRONG!!!!
First of all, Michael Caine’s character is Cutter, not Cutler.
Secondly, there aren’t two explanations or theories. Borden had a twin. Angier had clones. There are no other options.
And here’s why - there is no way that Angier could have found, and murdered, 100 doubles to perform his trick. It is simply not possible. However, because this is a movie, cloning is entirely possible. I know that may sound hypocritical, but there’s a difference between the suspension of disbelief and logical explanations. The idea of cloning a full human exists in movies, but even in movieland, murder is still murder. Especially 100 murders of men that look just like you that you hired to play your double.
On top of all of that, if it had been doubles for Angier’s trick, there would have been no reason to kill and keep all 100 of them in their water tanks. He would have hired one double (as he did when he first copied Borden’s Transported Man trick) and used the same double every night. No need for a fancy, expensive machine built by an eccentric genius. No need to drown the double every night.
Christine
WOW, apologies for spelling a name incorrectly, i am surprised it upset you so much
All
I mean is which ever theory you use to ‘explain’ this film, you still have to ask yourself the same question, “how?” How do you explain a working cloning machine in the 1800’s? or How do you explain the realism of the doubles?
That is because we do not get to know the most important character in terms of revealing the answers: Tesla. He is shrouded in secrecy and we don’t know if the machine works- it could work , or it could be misdirection. Why would Borden send his enemy to somewhere where he would find answers? He sent him away so he could read the notes he wrote for him; to make his agony worse, not to give him any answers. Bearing that in mind, Tesla may well have been part of the ruse; to create the false impression that the machine worked and Angier may have fallen for the carefully placed hats and cats
If you think about it like that, when Angier realised that it didn’t work, he changed tactic and made it work –with doubles. No wonder Borden couldn’t resist seeing how the trick was done- he had sent him on a wild goose chase and he came back with a pot of gold?
Either way, you haven’t really ‘explained’ the film, just posed more questions? That’s what makes it so great- just like an illusion, you just can’t be sure what happened, but you all agree that however it was or wasn’t done, it was pretty special
Neil » There’s a few things wrong with your theory:
1) Borden didn’t have a clone, he had a twin. I can understand the confusion on some of the things in the movie that aren’t explained. However, Borden having a twin is clearly explained at the end of the movie. There’s no speculation about that part.
2) You question the machine’s ability to clone people. You’re analyzing too much. This is, at its heart, a Science-fiction movie. Obviously it’s difficult to believe, but it’s a movie. It’s supposed to be.
3) You say “Angier realised that it didn’t work”, have you seen the movie? Of course the machine worked. It worked perfectly, exactly as it was designed. There’s no question about whether or not the machine worked. You seem to be implying that Tesla was tricking Angier with some cleverly placed hats and cats. I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be offensive, but that’s just absurd. To think that Tesla would go to the trouble of getting a hundred hats and a hundred cats to “fool” Angier is even more far fetched than the fact that the machine did work, even for a Science-fiction movie.
4) You ask how to explain that the cloning machine works; I can’t. It’s a movie. Just know that it did.
5) When you say “If you think about it like that, when Angier realised that it didn’t work, he changed tactic and made it work –with doubles.”, I have to completely disagree with you. Angier used doubles because he didn’t know how Borden did the trick. He used the doubles before he even knew about Tesla, or the machine that could potentially clone someone.
While we certainly appreciate your input, I have to disagree with virtually everything you’ve said.
Jack » Thanks for the comment. I’m glad we’re able to sort-of-help.
As for the bit about “coincidence” that you cite, I agree. Borden did know that Tesla could potentially make the machine work. After all, even back then, Tesla was considered one of the most brilliant minds.
While we don’t ever see Borden meet Tesla, it’s assumed that he did, at some point. There’s only one scene in the movie that Tesla is potentially in the same location Borden, and that’s during the “demonstration” (the location escapes me so early in the morning). This could have been the time when Borden approached Tesla’s assistant and potentially posed the question. Since Tesla’s assistant knew Tesla would do virtually anything for more funding, he probably said “yes, we can build that” to get some potential money.
While this isn’t outright explained in the movie, we can only assume that Borden knew everything he was doing. However, that poses the question; if Borden knew Angier was using a cloning machine, why was he so frightened when he saw the clone in the water tank?
We can assume that he was startled because while he knew Angier was cloning people, he didn’t know that they were being killed off. But that’s only an assumption.
Mike
That’s fine, i have only seen it once. I will at some point watch again. It’s clear you are believer. There’s only one thing wrong with that. I don’t know whether the machine worked or not, because we i don’t think that we are given enough facts. It’s like believing in God because we are told by a book that he exists. Someone’s word that it works isnt always enough. Some people require proof, thats why we have peoplw who don’t believe in God, and they say God doesn’t exist. All i am saying that it was either one (machine worked-clones), or the other (didnt work-doubles) and to say otherwise is doing so on faith alone, which for a supposed science fiction film, is ironic to say the least.
thanks for your input though, my wife ihas found your condemnation of my idea most amusing!
Neil - your misspelling of the name didn’t “upset” me; it was a simple correction.
We’re not condemning your idea - it just seems that the part you’re stuck on is simply part of movie magic. We don’t question the arrival of the aliens in Independence Day or John McClane surfing the wing of an airplane in Live Free or Die Hard - it’s just part of the suspension of disbelief so we can enjoy the movie. We make certain allowances in order to enjoy the story. In the case of Harry Potter, we buy into the idea of witches and wizards. In the case of Back to the Future, we buy into the idea of time travel. And, in the case of The Prestige, we buy into the idea of a cloning machine.
We don’t ask how these things work. They are a part of the fabric of the movie, so we allow for the fact that they don’t exist in real life. We don’t need to know how Tesla’s machine works. In this movie - it just does. Just as the De Lorean is fully capable of traveling back in time, and John McClane can explode a helicopter with a police car.
Can I just say Christine you summed it up quite brillaintly in your last post, however john mclane in die hard4 (aka brucy willis) is just samba and the taking the helicopter down with a car trick is well more plausable if even possible that the other films and there workings you explained :>
Hello,
just watched the film and get the clones/twins storyline, the obsession of Angier compared to the humanity of Borden, the neat link to Borden’s comment on the bird ‘brothers’ at the start and all that stuff. But………still hung up on the use of the reference to TESLA by Borden. Is the keyword coincidentally the very man that sets Angier on the road to disaster via cloning? Or is it some kind of weird double reference which i just don’t get? Had Borden met Tesla and if so had he just dismissed the offer/opportunity of cloning? It just seems that this reference is absolutely key and yet lost somewhere, at least it is to me. Any help please?
if tesler had invented a cloning machine - why didnt he just clone money?
Heres a theory,
I dont think the character played by Bowie is Tesla at all. I think hes a conman pretending to be tesla and swindling money from Angier( or possibly is tesla and simply conning him anyway). Hence the conveniently placed hats and cats. Angier was duped. Watch this part of the film again, it has the look of a setup all over it.
When Aungier realised , he then tried to con Borden into believeing the machine was real also. As for when he kills the first clone this part is a story from the journal (we dont know if it actually happened.
As for the clone theory (which i deny because doesnt seem to be Nolans style). We only ever see two Angiers. He could have used the same drunken actor as before, who conveniently dissapears half way through the film and possibly gets his act together
We dont know if the ”clones” were being drowned. Again this may be props shown to Borden and stories in the journal to convince him so (and us too). I think when Angier knew that Borden became frustrated and was going to confront the trick by going backstage on the final night, He actually droned the single double (again possibly the drunk actor). which was angier ‘finally being prepared to get his hands dirty’.
This is my theory and a distinct possibilty that i think sits well with the nature of the film.
barrman » They don’t touch on this in the movie, but they go into great detail about it in the book.
I don’t recall the exact details about how it gets explained, but I’m fairly certain that the machine in the book is handed down from Angier’s father, to him. I don’t believe he actually meets whomever invented it. He asks his father, at one point, why they just don’t clone money. His father says it’s for two reasons.
1) The machine is calibrated to a specific size and weight, any variation thereof those calculations could be disastrous.
2) He was concerned with duplicating serial numbers on money, and feared they’d get caught.
However, after Angier’s father dies (in the book), he begins duplicating money, on a small scale. Each time he duplicates himself, he puts a few coins in his pocket. Over time, we learn that he’s cloned himself a lot, because we learn of a “secret” room in his home, that’s full of cloned money.
My only guess is that this wasn’t really relevant to the story. We’re not given the impression that Angier’s “in it for the money”, so to speak. He loves what he does, in magic. We also, later, learn that Angier’s actually a “lord”, and is already rich. While Tesla comes across as a lowly poor inventor, we aren’t given the impression that he’d do something along the lines of forgery.
biggins » I’m not sure why you’d think that the character we’re shown wasn’t Tesla. Sure, it’s possible, but I’m curious why you’d think that. Of all the times I’ve watched the film, read the screenplay, and book, and discussed the movie with hundreds of people, I’ve never once heard anyone with that same theory. Care to elaborate?
As for your theory of the machine not working, and Angier “conning” Borden, I’m sorry, that’s just wrong. There’s too much evidence in the movie in the “present time” to support the fact that the machine did work.
1) Angier’s hired blind stage hands to take out the water tank after each show; presumably so they won’t see the drowned double.
2) In the final scene when Borden shoots Angier, and has the whole thing explained, we can see the hundred water tanks with cloudy water, with a dead body in them; sure, one could argue that there wasn’t any bodies in those tanks, and that the one up close was just Root (the double he hired, before getting the cloning machine), but that’s a farther stretch than the theory that the machine does work.
Sure, we only see two Angiers at any given time, that part of your theory makes sense. But what you don’t realize is that it doesn’t make sense to ever see more than two. Angier only needed to clone himself one at a time, kill one of them (either the clone, or himself), then go on with life until he needed to clone himself again the next night.
Saying that the drowning of the clones could have been a ruse placed specifically for Borden is a possibility, but unlikely. I say unlikely, only because of the ending of the movie, when in the “present” we see the dead clones. We’ve already discussed, in previous comments, that it was highly impossible that Angier hired 100 people who looked like him, and drowned them. The only explanation is that the tanks were full of drowned Angiers, clones or the real ones, take your pick.
Watch the movie again. Try to keep an open mind, and forget the theory you’ve come up with. It may make more sense to you. Given, it’s a movie and it’s open to your interpretation, so take it however you want. I’m just sharing how I think it went down, and many people seem to agree with my theory. So, until either Christopher or Jonathan Nolan call me, and proves me wrong, I’m stickin’ to it.
Why did Borden bother working as a lowly stage hand when he had had a twin brother all his life before that? Surely he would have realised that a trick involving him and his twin would be the most obvious and lucrative route to success and fame right from the start? They had already lived their life up to that point as fallon / borden - borden fallon, so they had already spent god knows how many years duping people like this and must have realised the potential for an amazing act much sooner?
Similarly with Angier - if he was Lord whoever all the way through and was merely masquerading as Angier so he could indulge in his passion to perform magic, why did he lower himself to be a mere stage hand? Why didn’t he have his own act?
I didn’t really understand either of the characters’ motivations for wasting their time and effort getting paid a pittance and playing second fiddles to someone else when they both had the intelligence and motivation to do their own thing and outdo their contemporaries (which is what they both aspired to)..or were they working as stage hands to learn the trade? I got the impression that they already knew their stuff a fair bit.
Thank you for this wonderful explanation, it really helped me understand the movie. :) But, I’m still wondering - did Robert Angier really die? (with no “clones” of him left behind…) :’(
Mike,
Cheers for pointing out the flaws in the theory, the part about Tesla possibly being a conman, was to cover myself to the barrage of people who would say that historically Tesla would never do something so devious (its a side point however).
I doubt i have examined the movie as well as yourself, but im defo in the no clone camp (being wrong or right). Perhaps a lot of the things in the present time were to fool the movie goers, although i do concede that if this is true then you can explain/assume any theory and possibly its a cop out on my part but it convinces a lot of people in my local pub.
But maybe thats cos they want to be fooled (: . Cheers
Ill check out the film again with an open mind and get back to you
I think this was a great film that explained alot of the confusion at the end. At the same time there are so many unexplained things throughout the movie, that do not get explained at the end. I will just touch on one that bothers me. Cutter says at the end “We don’t want to figure it out” “We don’t really want to know” thats why we accept that Fallon and Borden were twin brothers. I think Borden had a clone. I believe he did. After Lord Caldlow is shot he asks, “Your his brother? A twin?” He does not get a “YES” He gets a I am Fallon, I am Borden. He was Borden, he was Fallon. Someones brother, in this case.. their twin.. does not randomly volunteer to put up with the bullsh** of living with his brothers wife (who he obviously doesn’t care for) and run the risk of making his brothers wife so upset that she could possibly *and did* committ suicide just to pull off a stupid magic trick that his brother wants him to do. Hey bro we have to cut your fingers off because mine got blown off tonight, you still down with all this? SURE! No way. He would of been so pissed off while he was sitting in jail awaiting his death sentence over a murder he didn’t commit, all for a stunt double??? But he was not mad. He cared about his brothers trick this much, that he was willing to play it off to his death? REAL human nature is not like this. And so much that he thought he would be clever and say ABRACADABRA instead of “why did i do this again” as he’s being hung? He can say this because he knows once he is hung, he is not dead…he keeps on living because they are the same person. The same was said about Angier and his clones. Say the first time Angier cloned himself he would of took that gun and put it to his head instead of shooting the “Angier” in front of him. The one thats still standing keeps on living the life of “Angier” … Ok now Angier went to Tesla’s public exhibit….low and behold, THERES BORDEN! Right down in the front and center, next to the machine that everyone else is taking off like bats out of hell to get away from…why? Because he knows that its not dangerous. This is the original Borden, not the clone. Because after he leaves the convention he is followed by Angier where he see’s Jess and Sarah and Sarah knows “today” he loves her. No one told Borden that Angier was going to be there, and on top of that Borden never even see’s Angier there. So what would make him randomly plant the name of TESLA into Angiers head? In the movie it shows a scene of Borden and Olivia on stage with his two doors and a machine with the electrifying currents just like Tesla’s. Where did he get that? HMMM…. Borden also say’s a “part of me” which to me means a clone. So if Borden was cloned, then his clone was technically him. Maybe the clone didn’t end up with the exact same feelings of attraction towards women as Borden, hints why he would like Olivia but at the same time know how to act around his daughter and care about her so much, like when he wanted to see her in jail. Ok so say he did have a twin brother a.k.a. Fallon. Why would he have to rotate his brother into his personal life to pull off his “you pop out of this door” trick? So he could hide his wife from knowing his trick? That he had a twin brother that, duh, looked like him? Thats obsurd. And why would he say the world is not ready for the “AMAZING….. I HAVE A TWIN TRICK?” No. When he refers to his trick that “People will remember him for” he’s not talking about having a twin. He’s talking about having a freaking clone of himself. I think this cloning was by accident and for some reason he had to “dress it up.” He didn’t have what it took to kill him. He knows this clone is “HIM” thats why he has to rotate him in his life because technically thats “his” wife/life too. If it was just his brother, his brother could of stayed undercover as Fallon the whole time, they wouldn’t have had to switch. Thats why he says, “We both had half of a full life, and that was good enough for us.” He also says “I’ll share HALF of my food with him” a foreshadowing of this being his clone. He doesn’t want his clone to know that he is a clone. The real Borden knows how Angier does it, thats why he says leave him his trick, leave him alone, don’t ever go there again. He’s afraid Fallon, his clone, will find out that he himself is a clone. The Borden that seems so confused about the trick and asks “why can’t you out think him?!?” is the clone. The one that wants to know, the one that goes that night and runs back stage to see. Angier says to himself “Bordens mind is divided” “His soul is restless” and I say “HE HAD A CLONE”
Kirk -
Why wouldn’t the clone know he’s a clone?
And why would it be easier to convince a clone to give up half his life for the trick than it would be to convince a twin? If the clone is the exact same as Borden, he’d be a normal human being, and you would assume he’d want to live a full life just as a twin would.
It all goes back to the old Chinese magician that Cutter sends Angier and Borden to see. He didn’t really have bowed legs and have to walk that slowly. It was all a ruse to make the goldfish bowl trick work. When Cutter says that we don’t really want to know the secret, THAT’S what he means. We don’t want to know that the Chinese magician can really walk just fine and that the goldfish bowl trick relies on him making everyone think he’s a weak old man, just like we don’t want to know Borden and Fallon are twins or that Angier has a cloning machine - we just want to see the magic.
To apply it to real life, ever since I saw the Criss Angel episode where he explained his quarter in a Coke can trick, I haven’t been able to watch him since. I knew all along, of course, that he’s not really magic, tha