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Ever since I posted my review of The Prestige way back when, people have been ending up on our site after searching for keywords such as “The Prestige movie explained”, “Prestige explanation”, “The Prestige movie”, “What happened in the end of the Prestige?” and “what happened at the end of the Prestige.” I’ll agree, the movie was a bit overwhelming the first time we (Christine and I) saw it in the theater, and we left asking each other a ton of questions, almost to the point where we turned around and went back in for a second showing. However, the second time we watched the movie, most of the confusing parts made perfect sense.
Since there seems to be so much confusion over what happened, I’ve watched the movie two more times (my fifth and sixth viewings), and made notes of various “clues” throughout the movie, and hopefully explain what happens in the end. So, if you’re curious or confused, read on:
We know that The Prestige is told out of order, which in itself can be partly to blame for the confusion. Christopher Nolan (the director) likes making jumbled up movies. If you’ve never seen Memento, you should check it out, especially if you liked The Prestige. So, since the movie itself is told out of order, I’ll straighten it out, which may help a bit.
The very beginning of the movie is “today”, so to speak, the murder trial part. This is what’s considered “now.” However, the majority of the movie is told through a flashback. Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) is in jail up until about an hour and fifty minutes into the movie. Borden’s in jail for murdering Angier (Hugh Jackman), in a magic trick gone wrong. All of the flashbacks are shown as Borden reads through Angier’s diary entries, which were provided to him by the assistant of Lord Caldlow.
Within the flashback (Borden reading Angier’s journal), Angier reads Borden’s journal. I think this is the part that confuses everyone. So let’s untwist the entire movie. I’ll explain in details how we come to the conclusion(s), after the explanation.
This is a summation of the events of the movie, in the order in which they happen on-screen, not necessarily the order in which they actually happened for the characters.
- NOW – Voice-over explanation of how magic tricks work. (Michael Caine’s voice-over)
Borden watches Angier drown.
Borden’s on trial for murdering Angier.
Borden goes to jail.
Borden is approached by Caldlow’s assistant (Owens), looking to buy his tricks, specifically the “Transported Man” secret.
As a show of good faith, Owens gives Borden Angier’s journal.
Borden reads Angier’s journal while imprisioned for murdering him, awaiting his death.
- FLASHBACK (Colorado) – Angier’s reading Borden’s diary, while in Colorado. Angier is in Colorado trying to figure out how Borden did his trick “The Transported Man.”
Angier tries to see Nikola Tesla, to create him a machine to do the “Transported Man” trick.
- FLASHBACK (England) – We go back to the first time Angier and Borden worked together as “plants” (people stuck in the crowd, but are really part of the show). The woman they tie up, who does the trick, is Angier’s wife Julia. Borden sets up his “masterpiece” by saying, “No one can do my trick.”
Cutter sends Angier and Borden to see the Asian magician, to see who can figure out how he does the “fishbowl” trick. Borden figures out the trick, that the Asian magician isn’t really old and fragile, that it’s part of his act, so that he can bring the fishbowl out on stage, between his legs.
- FLASHBACK (England) – Borden is performing as an assistant to Cutter’s friend. He meets Sarah, and her nephew. When Borden shows the canary to the crying boy, the boy asks, “But where’s his brother?” (Possible foreshadowing to the end of the movie)
Outside, Borden tells the little boy, “Never show anyone, they’ll beg you and they’ll flatter you for the secret.” (Another possible foreshadowing event to the end of the movie.)
Sarah goes inside her apartment, and locks the door. Borden appears inside her apartment.
- NOW - Cutter shows the judge Angier’s machine. Cutter asks if he can prevent Caldlow from getting the device. He explains it’s too dangerous, and that there is no trick, that the device is “real.”
Cutter shows the judge the tank that Angier drowned in, and that the trick lock was replaced with a real lock.
- FLASHBACK (England) – They perform the “woman escaping” trick again. Borden ties a different knot. Julia’s unable to escape, and drowns. (I know what you’re thinking, why didn’t anyone give her CPR? I wondered the same thing, and thought that maybe CPR wasn’t around in the late 1800s, but according to Wikipedia, it was.)
At the funeral, Angier asks Borden which knot he tied, he says “I keep asking myself that.”, “I’m sorry, I just don’t know.” Borden leaves, Angier yells at him “You don’t know?!”
Sarah meets Mr. Fallon, who speaks his some of his very few lines of the entire film. (I had not noticed this until just now, and am watching the movie so I can be sure these notes are accurate.) When he speaks, his mouth barely moves, and you don’t notice him speaking. He sounds so much like Borden, you assume it was he who spoke.
Sarah tells Borden she’s pregnant, his first words are, “That’s great. We shoulda told Fallon.” Foreshadowing? I think so.
He says he loves her, she replies with, “Not today, you don’t.”
- FLASHBACK (England) – Borden is performing his tricks in some little dive theater, being booed. He performs the bullet-catch, and a disguised Angier slips a bullet into the gun, and shoots off two of Borden’s fingers.
- FLASHBACK (Colorado) – Angier reads that Borden wrote “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.”
- FLASHBACK (England) – Borden’s fingers are bleeding, again. The baby is crying, so we know this is months and months later.
- FLASHBACK (England) – Cutter invites Angier for a drink, tells him he wants to book Angier to perform. He settles on the name “The Great Danton”, and begins working on tricks. They hire Olivia (Scarlett Johansson) to be Angier’s assistant.
The Great Danton performs his tricks, Borden shows up, and repays him for shooting off his fingers by sabotaging Angier’s trick. The theater owner throws them out after a spectator gets hurt on stage.
- FLASHBACK (Colorado) – Tesla’s assistant meets with Angier, and tells him Telsa can see him. Angier tells the assistant that he wants the same machine that Tesla built for “another magician.” Tesla’s assistant shows Angier the work that Tesla’s working on.
- NOW - Borden’s daughter visits him in jail. Fallon tells Borden that they’re taking his daughter away to the “workhouse.” Borden says it’s okay to sell the secret to Caldlow, so that his daughter can be safe.
- FLASHBACK (Colorado) – Angier meets Tesla (played by a wonderful David Bowie), who agrees to build the machine that Angier wants.
- FLASHBACK (England) – Angier is putting on a disguise, to see Borden perform. We see Borden perform the “Transported Man” for the first time, and it stuns Angier to the point of obsession.
Cutter says “He uses a double;” “It’s too simple,” Angier says. Olivia agrees that he’s not using a double.
Angier and Cutter start setting up their version, and find a double for Angier.
Borden buys Sarah a house. She says “I asked you about this last week, you said…”; Borden replies, “You caught me in a wrong mood.”
Angier performs his trick “The New Transported Man” with his double. They celebrate.
Angier tells Olivia to go work for Borden, to get his secrets.
Olivia goes to tell Borden she wants to work for him, and that she’s going to doublecross Angier, because he sent her away.
We learn that Borden was the one who told the double that he could demand more, which is why he begins sabotaging the “New Transported Man” trick. He tells the double “I used a double.”
Angier shows up at Olivia’s. She tells him about the disguises at Borden’s, and that Cutter was right, that he “uses a double.” She gives Angier Borden’s notebook.
Angier follows Borden, Fallon follows Angier. Cutter and Angier trap Fallon in a coffin, and bury him alive. They threaten to let him die if Borden doesn’t give them the secret to the Transported Man trick.
- FLASHBACK (Colorado) – Angier visits Tesla’s workshop for a demonstration. Tesla attempts to use Angier’s hat for the demonstration, but nothing happens – the machine doesn’t work. Angier is rushed out of the workshop.
- FLASHBACK (England) – We find out Olivia doublecrossed the doublecross.
We find out Borden loves Olivia. He says “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.”
Angier finds out the journal that he’s been reading was written by Borden specifically to be read by Angier.
- FLASHBACK (Colorado) – Tesla’s machine does work, and they clone a cat, which Angier finds outside, along with dozens of his top hats, which were the results of the previous tests that they thought weren’t working.
- FLASHBACK (England) – Sarah’s drinking problem continues, getting worse.
Borden asks Fallon to take the daughter to the zoo, he says that “Sarah, she knows.”
- FLASHBACK (Colorado) – Telsa’s workshop has been burnt down, presumably by Thomas Edison’s men, who were his competitors.
Tesla left the working machine for Angier, who brings it back to England and begins practicing with it.
- FLASHBACK (England) – Angier works with the machine, and clones himself.
- NOW - Borden reads in Angier’s journal, “Yes you, Borden. Sitting in your cell, reading my diary, awaiting your death, for my murder.” Angier’s journal was intended for the other to read, just as Borden’s was.
Caldlow’s assistant explains that the journal wasn’t fake – it truly is written in Angier’s own hand. Borden hands over his tricks, without the prestiges. Says he wants to see his daughter one last time, before he hands over the prestiges.
- FLASHBACK (England) – Borden and Sarah are fighting. Sarah says “I know what you really are, Alfred.” Fallon takes the daughter away, so she doesn’t hear the fighting. We assume they’re fighting over Olivia.
Sarah hangs herself at Borden’s workshop.
- FLASHBACK (England) – Angier meets with Cutter, and tells him he wants to do another show, 100 performances.
Sarah said she wanted to meet Olivia before she hung herself; Olivia wonders what she would have said.
Borden says “Part of me loved her, part of me didn’t,” in regards to Sarah.
Olivia leaves Borden, because of how cold he is about Sarah’s death.
Angier performs his “Real Transported Man,” Borden knows he falls through the stage to dissappear, but not how he transports across the theater.
Borden yells at Fallon, and asks “Why can’t you outthink him?”
Angier’s stagehands remove the tank, while Fallon watches.
Borden says, “Let him have his trick, I don’t need his secret. So, don’t go back there, leave it alone, both of us. Just leave it alone. We’re done.” to Fallon.
Bordon examines the machine, and goes downstairs and watches Angier drown. He tries to break the glass, to save him.
Cutter identifies Angier’s body, who’s now dead.
- FLASHBACK (England) – Cutter asks if he can buy the Transported Man machine. Caldlow’s assistant says that he can ask Caldlow for the machine.
- NOW - Caldlow shows up to visit Borden, with Borden’s daughter Jess. Borden says, “I’ve missed you so much, Fallon has too.”
Caldlow is really Angier, or rather Angier is really Caldlow.
Borden is confused, because Angier is supposed to be dead, which is why he’s in jail.
Borden offers to give Angier the secret to the “Transported Man.” Angier rips it up, and throws it away. Angier says “Whatever your secret was, you have to agree, mine was better.”
Borden promises to bring Jess home soon.
- NOW (Somewhere in America) – Cutter shows up at Caldlow’s house, and sees that it’s Angier.
Cutter feels guilty for helping get Borden hung.
Caldlow says he’ll ensure the machine will be destroyed.
- NOW - Borden is talking with Fallon in jail, and says, “You’ll go alone now.”
Borden says “You were right, I should have left him to his damn trick. I’m sorry. I’m sorry for a lot of things. I’m sorry for Sarah. I didn’t mean to hurt her. I didn’t. You go live your life in full now, go live for both of us.” (Another clue from earlier, when Borden told Fallon to “leave him and his trick alone.”)
Fallon says, “Goodbye”, his second line in the movie at 1:54
- NOW - They bring Borden to be hung.
Cutter helps Angier lower the machine into the basement, where his other props are.
Borden’s last word is, “Abracadabra.”
Fallon enters Angier’s theater, as Cutter leaves.
Ball bounces to Angier, Borden shoots him.
Borden emerges from the shadows, minus two fingers, and removes Fallon’s hat.
Angier figures it all out. “A brother, a twin” he says.
“You were Fallon, the whole time.” Borden replies, “No, we were both Fallon, and we were both Borden.”
Borden explains (with help from flashbacks) how they cut off two fingers of the twin after the bullet catch incident, and how it was “bleeding again.”
He also explains the situation with Sarah and Olivia – “We each loved one of them. I loved Sarah. He loved Olivia. We each had half of a full life. Which was enough for us.”
Angier explains his trick. The machine would clone him each time, and he would then kill himself, and live on as the clone. Or, in some instances, he would kill the clone. “It took courage to climb into that machine every night, not knowing, if I’d be the man in the box, or the prestige.”
Angier’s dropped latern sets the theater on fire. The theater burns down.
- NOW - Voice-over, Cutter explains the magic trick again.
Borden shows up, and picks up Jess (the daughter) from Cutter.
As Borden leaves the theater, we see the water tanks with the Angier clones in them, drowned. We assume that each night he performed the trick, he killed another of himself/a clone, and kept their bodies hidden.
The movie ends.
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.
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12/25/2012
Carter said "Josh
I could be wrong but angier could have noticed the disguised Borden inspecting the machine (when angier asks if members ..."
oops leaning towards the latter explanation.
Wow the director from The Prestige and the newer Batman movies also directed Man of Steel. I am definitively gonna see it.
Just saw the movie, well just heard the movie as I am at work and could only listen to it so I missed a whole lot. So I am gonna watch it this weekend and try to figure out if its a sci-fi flick(cloning machine works)
or a more complex trick that we are left wondering because if the trick is revealed to the audience than the magic is gone. Or is the movie so good that it can be either or something else.
BTW if I have to google a movie after watching it, its usually a sign that the movie was good. Thumbs up.
Im leaning toward
Olivia didn’t say that at 11:11:10
You missed the double-headed trick coin which Borden gives to Sarah’s nephew when he tells him never to reveal the secret of the trick. The coin itself is a clue that Alfred Borden is one life led by two twin men.
Alfred Borden is an assumed name created through the conjunction of the Borden twins true first names: Alfred and Freddy. You’d have to read the novel to know this. Al + Fred = Alfred. Albert and Freddy Borden decide to lead one life as Alfred Borden in order to later create what will eventually become The Transported Man trick.
I mean Albert and Freddy, not Alfred and Freddy. Alfred is the eventual conjunction of Albert and Freddy. I think that was clear from my comment, but I noticed the typo in my first comment so I wanted to re-iterate it for clarity.
Angier is constantly warned thoughout that the pursuit of the Transported Man would deliver him ultimate tragedy, a point made repeatedly by Cutter who sees the game for what it really is of course, a simple trick done very very well. Angier persists because he’s a classically portrayed Faustian flawed man who seeks the ephemeral glory of the now juxtaposed against the strength and ultimate glory of the the two brothers who manage to create the ‘magic’ thru hard work and an absolute dedication to the cause/art: each time Angier replicates himself he dilutes his soul that much further, destroying the humanity within him; the two brothers by contrast reaffirm their humanity by repeating the ‘magic’ thru a simple ruse played ever so effectively with the utmost persuasion. Hence why Cutter (the audience) sides with the Bordens in the end. People know they’re being tricked, the artistry is to let them go away thinking just that – when u reveal the truth behind the Prestige u take away the magic and all that’s left is reality.
I’ll throw out another possible explanation. Cutter is the guy to watch. The piece of evidence that throws me is the Angier body (very pristine looking, by the way for being weeks or months after a death) in the box at the end. I’m sways by the Angier double rather than clone explanation. I think Cutter knew Borden was a set of twins. I think he knew Angier lost it. I think he was convinced that one Borden was responsible for Angier’s wife’s death. He worked with Angier to frame that Borden but preserve the innocent one. If he wasn’t complicit in the crime, why would he help Angier store that stuff? It’s one thing to sell it. It’s another thing to help him store it safely away. The ending man in the box is a prop made by Cutter. That’s why a) the body isn’t at the morgue, and b) it’s not nasty and bloated. Remember Angier’s comment about not knowing how he does that (making someone look like someone else). He didn’t just clean up Root. He’s a veritable Madame Tussade. Cutter also realized that Angier is a murderer and insane, so he ensured his demise by not locking the door at the end when he exited. But what about the dead double for Angier, who is presumably Root? Cutter knew he was insane too, which we see at the very beginning of Root’s introduction. Cutter = vigilante.
Sure this explanation is far afield, but nothing else explains the body in the box at the end. You think it’s a clone? Then why is it one pristine body in a box rather than 20. Remember, they take “it” (maybe the body) out every night. What if the “it” they take out is Tesla’s static electricity machine to make sure no one steals it or discovers it’s a fancy turn?
Ok fire away and poke holes in this one. I hope you don’t because I’d like to be able to focus my thinking on work rather than explanations for this movie. I agree with Frederic’s comment about the open endings. This is my version!
I think you need to watch this movie again….
When Angier is using the Tesla machine for the first time in his theater (showing it to Cutter and the other guy) i dont recall there is a clone produced !!
Well, I’m assuming since he ‘disappeared’ that he went to the tank as well.
Yes, he had to go to the tank each time or there would have been more and more clones running around just like the multiple top hats and cats in Colorado.
Angier/Lord Caldlow (AL) and Borden/Fallon (BF) are obsessed and lose or suffer for their obsessions. The BF’s realize this. One of the BF twins breaks the cycle. Cutter may be relation to BF. When AL and Cutter are trying the dove and cage trick AL says that Cutter sounds just like him. Cutter cares for BF’s daughter as well. Cutter seems to understand that BF’s are twins. Cutter observes these clues without telling anyone. I think Cutter sets AL up from the beginning. When they clean up Root, Cutter says Root could be AL’s brother. AL says he doesn’t need a brother he needs to be me (AL). He warns that Root will need to be hid or the game is up. AL says he is not sure how Cutter does theses things and doesn’t want to know. Also when Cutter is shot it the arm by BF. BF could have killed Cutter. Wounded, like a bird, Cutter sets AL free so that he can remove himself from the Turn, The Pledge could be the twins or maybe Cutter. The Prestige is the free twin latter on. Just a guess anyways.
This has to be without a doubt the worst piece of text I have ever read online, seriously: are you a spam bot? Cutter wasn’t shot in the arm by Borden lol, it was Borden who was shot in the arm by Angier.
u better watch the movie one more time
Yes, Cutter was shot in the arm by Bordon (actually Fallon in this scene) while Cutter was nailing him into the coffin to bury him alive for the secret to the Transported Man.
In the end, when Borden picked up his daughter Jess, was Cutter informed about Borden’s twin brother? Because when he picked up Jess, Cutter didn’t seem surprised?
Why is this so difficult to understand? There is no cloning. Borden and Fallon are twin brothers. Angier was fooled by Tesla (was let to Tesla by Borden and Fallon) and the machine is bullshit. He kills a hired,double from Tesla because he really believes the machine has worked. That is the point he loses control. He’s obsession made him a murderer and he will do it again. He realise the machine doesn’t work and when he’s home again he set’s a trap for Borden. Killing again for the second time. But this time he killed his own double. The other times they performed the trick Angier and his double without a killing. He killed a man again “no-one cares about the man in the box” just to frame his life-long rival. Borden kills the real degenareted Angier, who still keeps on performing while dying.
Why is it difficult to understand? That every explanation is an explanation. Everything is but in question again ad the end. So that every audience, we, have his own story, his own believes, his own illusion. The writers do’nt have an explanation themselfes, you believe what you want, my view, your view, it doesn’t mather, it is an open ending, designated to make you wonder, even the storywriter doesn’t know the real explanation, the explanation is that there are many explanations.
Bravo, Frederic! And this is also the simplest explanation, isn’t that what Cutter tells us in his narratives about magic, and isn’t it what he tells Angier about Borden’s magic (that he uses a double stupid, don’t over complicate matters)?
A ‘third’ Angier at the very end proves this theory wrong. If anyone could have made a machine like that, Tesla could. Tesla had integrity. Also, he could have never known when Angier would try the machine. Why is the cloning so hard to ‘believe’?
Posibly but non of that explains why the tank is boxed up and secretly moved each night by the blind man after each performance. Doesn’t tat point to a working clone machine and a dead body each night? Add to that the comment made about “your killing more than canaries now”
Angier used a double there was no cloning look closley at the dead body and look closley at Angier when he is with his wife
My problem with Angier killing countless clones is that he could just as easily keep the second clone (after getting over the shock) and the two could do the double game flawlessly. In this scenario the tank of water would not have a real lock on it.
I really enjoyed the twists and turns of this movie, but I think there is still something missing. Tesla really seemed like a magician to me in the construct of finding the many hats and second cat on the hillside. I really felt he was pulling the wool over Angier’s eyes. That feeling was not resolved for me by the simple appearance of the second Angier, especially since I don’t remember how the drunken double was resolved in the movie. I thought that Angier realized there was no transporting, and when the second Angier said, No wait, prior to being shot, I thought he was the drunken double hired by Tesla.
I obviously missed something here because of what happens in the rest of the movie. That is why I fabricated the elaborate and implausible scenario of triplets.
People have commented on the missing drunken double, but no one seems to have a solution which eliminates him.
The whole cloning thing just makes me feel the movie cheated by pretending to represent “real” magic as the art of illusion and Angier’s obsession as out of touch with reality, but then inserted a fake science that acts as magic. Why do that? Maybe the characters of Tesla and Edison needed to be developed a bit more if the sci fi angle was to accepted by the viewers.
Wow. I had a totally different take on it. The twin bit I got the first time and just finished rewatching that this morning to try to figure out Angier’s doubles. I never thought the machine (from Tesla) really worked. I thought that Telsa was a greater magician than the others and that he had staged the pile of hats and the second cat to deceive Angier into believing the machine worked and then he left conveniently. Tesla had hired the double to hide in the machine and step out at the right moment.
But in fact, Angier was a triplet. Yes. a triplet. Remember we don’t want to know the truth, we want to believe the magic. The truth is too simple. Angier shoots one of his brothers who is the double all along because he went along with Angier. But he gets his other brother to help him with his show. Meanwhile, Borden/Fallon, the wilder twin at any rate is angry that the show is so successful and locks the tank in the last show. Borden/Fallon, the gentler twin races down and can not unlock it. The second of the triplet Angiers drowns. Now there is only Angier. He resumes his role as Lord Caldlow to save the little girl, because he has not figured out the twin brother act.
My reason for this interpretation was the constant reminders that we don’t really want to know the truth because it is too simple, we want to believe in the mysterious part of the plot.
I like your interpretation a lot and it explains most of everything. I guess I thought the machine was an elaborate fake and the truth was a simple albeit unlikely situation.
The problem with your theory is that Angier performed the trick countless times over many months. And if he had a twin or triplets, he shouldn’t have had a problem figuring out Borden’s twin trick.
I think the other twin is actually a product of Tesla :) You can take that into consideration, just in case!The answer, Tesla!
No, everything is more or less ration. One thing nobody mentions: Borden looked at Cutter (to be shure he is not seeing him), than secretly messaged something to Julia with his eyes, and she replied with very light noddle; than Borden switched theknot. WHAT plan they had? They agreed about something. I saw that It first watch. I thought that they had some secret plan; to trick her husband… That is completely unexplained what it was. Is Julia lives happily somewhere?
As about of hangin Fallon/Borden: It was obvious that he tried to save drowning guy. And that Angier is till alive. But in real nobody cared about prisoner any moore, as English law at that time was sending people to Port Arthur Tasmania for as little as stealing couple of loafs of bread – for life. So I understand that part. Julia is till question?
The whole Julia theory is nix because they had a funeral with her body. The nod was probably in reference to the knot Borden wanted to tie that Angier was opposed to, but Julia was in agreement with.
Both Julia and Borden wanted to take the risk. in the previous scene, Borden and Julia were arguing that she could untie the more advanced knot underwater while Cutter was saying it was too dangerous. In the scene where Borden and Julia nodded, they both “agreed” at that moment that they should try the harder knot
I apologize if this question has been asked already. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen this movie so I can’t really remember most of it, but in reading this analysis the thing that keeps confusing me is: if Fallon and Borden are twin brothers but no one supposedly knows this, then who do the people think Fallon is? Wouldn’t he look just like Borden? Is he disguised? Again, sorry if this is a very obvious question, I just haven’t seen the movie in ages and don’t really get this part.
The Bordens go through an extensive makeup process to appear as “Fallon.” They seem older, heavier, and speak very little as Fallon.
I’m not sure that it WOULDN’T matter whether it was the original or the clone being killed each time. After all, if I somehow cloned myself, sure the clone would be an exact duplicate with my thoughts and memories, but it still wouldn’t physically BE me. And if I died, what would it matter to me if a clone of me was still going on living — I’d still be dead and non-existing. Sure, Angier might figure that “living on” through a clone was better than nothing, but the original Angier would still be dead, regardless. We’re not talking about the original some how ESCAPING death thru the creation of his clone — the original still dies regardless (if indeed it IS the original and not the clone who dies every time). I would think that any ration person (which, perhaps Angier was not, due to his obsession) would still want to go on living, and not want to die (shot or drowned), and would only undertake the repeated cloning if it was always assured that it was the clone who died. That’s why I’m asking if anyone noticed any clues as to whether it WAS the original Angier throughout all the clonings. (Of course if Angier was no longer sane or rational, than I suppose “anything goes”!)
If so, why did Fallon write the word Telsa on a piece of paper and give it to Angier when in jail? It is possible they used the Telsa machine, how else would he have known about it?
Angier clearly has no problem killing (or sacrificing) himself/his clone. So hopefully this makes sense….
It would then stand to reason that Angier cloned himself, but did not kill himself or the clone once towards then end (leaving two Angiers). Since we know he suspected Borden to have a twin (that’s what he said), Angier knew a twin would still remain after Borden’s trial and murder. He then would expect the twin to seek revenge and kill Angier. What I am saying is that it is very possible that Angier was not killed at the end, but rather his clone – although I am not sure it matters which lives or dies.
Did anyone else see it this way?? Was that what the ending implied?
Can anyone tell from the finished movie if the “clone” of the hats, or the cat, or Angier himself was the one who always appeared some distance from Tesla’s machine, or was it the original who always appeared some distance, with the “clone” taking the original’s place in the machine? (I’m assuming, of course, that the machine would always work in the same way, not changing it’s mode of operations from one use to the next).
Also, I wonder about a possible plot-hole in regards to Tesla’s machine. Why would the duplication of the hats and the cat be a much greater distance way (outside the building and down the hill) from the machine, than that which occurred during the first duplication of Angier? When Angier first tries the machine, the duplicate appears in the same room, not very far away (enabling him to conveniently shoot the duplicate). Was this just for the simplicity of shooting the scene and making it cinematically tighter? Better than having the Angier in the machine have to run outside and track down the other Angier? Also wondering how, once set up on the theater stage, they could know just where the “other” would appear, and that it was always conveniently in the back of the balcony where no spectator would see the creation of a second Angier. Was this just pure luck? Or did they have to do thru some “trial and error”? Any thoughts?
After Tesla found out how the machine worked, he tweaked the specs, probably to keep a tighter radius. I’m assuming either he left the instructions with Angier and/or he had the theatre built to accommodate it.
Many seem to be under the impression that Tesla set out to create a duplication machine (and possibly has before). Tesla and/or his assistant do tell Angier that (1) this is not a machine Tesla has made before for someone and (2) the machine does not work exactly as intended. While Borden may have commissioned Tesla to build a device, it was all fluff for the act. That’s why the new one had to be built and tested. That’s why the were surprised when the machine didn’t work and Angier was told to leave while they made adjustments. The fact that the machine does not, in fact, simply teleport you some place but instead essentially makes there be two of you — one here and one over there — is a surprise to them.
When Angier performed his act, he would activate the machine, it would do its thing, the Angier standing there would fall through the trap door with perfect timing and be drowned in this evening’s tank. Every night the evening’s tank would be wrapped up by the blind men, shipped out, and stored. The next night, there would be a new empty tank to drown the previous evening’s Angier.
Why did Angier need to die and be disposed of every evening? So there would not be a hundred and one Angiers running around by the end of the run. Even two would be problematic and abhorrent to Angier, as we see when he kills himself after first using it.
Why did Angier react in a emotional way while drowning in the tank? He was drowning. While the plan may have sounded good in his head, it clearly didn’t seem that way while drowning — certainly not any more so than being shot was. Even if he was ok with it at that moment, certainly having someone see what was happening wouldn’t have been.
I also do not see why people think it is more believable that the twins were somehow a Tesla creation rather than simply twins. Twins and swapping are a classic troupe in story telling, and far more believable. Clearly, given that they were around in all parts of the movie we saw, even before Angier and Borden ever went to see Telsa, and swapping places and telling no one.
what about the drunk look a like?
I just saw the movie tonight for the first time, and it really amazed me, but I have one question: if I remember well, after Borden killed Angier and returned to see his daughter, Cutter didn’t seem to be surprised by his appearence. He even bowed his head, like he was waiting for him. So did he know all along about the fact that there are two Bordens? And that one will die, while the other will live with Jess? If so, why didn’t he do anything to save the other twin or maybe Angier? This is the part I don’t understand.
Wonderful break down! Though I’m really curious of how the Angier deaths played out…
I have one question:
1) When Borden tried to save the Angier clone in the water tank, why did Cutter come in and tried to stop him? Is it because Cutter knew that Angier intentionally kills his clone in every act? If so, why does Cutter seem surprised to see Angier alive at the end (when he reveals himself to be Lord Caldlow)?
Cutter never tried to stop Borden from saving Angier, he also tries to save angier, you see him reach for the lock and if im not mistaken he says what have you done. Cutter doesnt know about Angiers clones/Trick, thats why when they meet again in the broken down theatre he says I dont want you working backstage, I want you to be the manager for Angiers last show. the part where Cutter finds out is when they are putting the machine away and he says the part about the sailor who drowned, telling him he lied about that story. indicating that killing himself by drowing himself/clones was a terrible thing. sorry i babbled on but its a hard movie to explain aha
i think he told him that because his wife drowned and he told him that to soften the blow mike?
Cutter had no idea what the secret was. He thought Borden was watching Angier drown. So at the end, he is genuinely surprised to see Angier alive.
I’m with Karin (above). I think the whole clone-machine thing is an illusion. I think Root is actually Lord Caldlow and that there really are only the two of them and the whole Tesla-thing, and the tanks and all (we only ever see that one body clearly in the tank at the end) become an elaborate, illusory trick to fool Borden and/or us – the audience. Even the scene where Angier shoots a clone could simply have been a lie, a man so obsessed with his audience’s reaction (and Borden is his true audience) that he would lie right up until the end. The only thing that stuffs up this interpretation is why Borden would have said anything about Tesla – that was what he wrote down for Angier, so it was he who set Angier on that whole journey in the first place. Damn. I really want the clone-thing to be a trick because that fits better with all the things Cutter says about the way illusion works. The cloning thing is too obvious for my liking. But maybe this is just me wanting a complex story to be even more complex than it really is. I really like how Nolan’s films do this – keep you thinking for a long time afterwards.
Hmm… I am definitely suspicious of all the support cast – Root, Olivia, Tesla and Cutter.