The Prestige

Are you watching closely?

Every magic trick consists of three parts or acts.

The first part is called the Pledge.

The magician shows you something ordinary...

...a deck of cards, a bird, or a man.

He shows you this object...

...perhaps he asks you to inspect it...

...to see that it is, indeed, real.

Yeah, unaltered, normal.

But of course, it probably isn't.

- Where do you think you're going? - I'm part of the bloody act, you fool.

The second act is called the Turn.

The magician takes the ordinary something...

...and makes it do something extraordinary.

Now, you're looking for the secret, but you won't find it...

...because, of course, you're not really looking.

You don't really wanna know.

You want to be fooled.

But you wouldn't clap yet...

...because making something disappear isn't enough.

You have to bring it back.

That's why every magic trick has a third act.

The hardest part.

The part we call the Prestige.

The Prestige. And did Robert Angier...

...the Great Danton, your employer...

...get to that final part of his trick that night?

- No, sir. Something went wrong. - What went wrong?

I saw someone making their way below stage.

I followed him.

It was Borden, watching Mr. Angier drown.

Would you please describe your occupation to the jury, Mr. Cutter?

I'm an ingénieur.

I design illusions and construct the apparatus necessary for performing them.

So, Mr. Cutter...

...was this water-filled tank beneath the stage...

...part of Mr. Angier's illusion?

No, no. It was--

The tank was brought on for the first trick and then taken off-stage.

Borden must have placed it under the trap door after the interval.

How large was this tank?

Oh, it's a normal tank for escape underwater, about 4 or 500 gallons.

How do you think Mr. Borden...

...was able to move the tank under the trap door without anyone noticing?

He's a magician. Ask him.

I ask again that this man explain...

...the mechanics of Mr. Angier's illusion.

The Real Transported Man...

...is one of the most sought-after illusions in this business.

I have the right to sell it on.

If I reveal the method here, then the trick is worthless.

How can we know that the tank wasn't some part of the trick that went wrong?

Mr. Cutter, I see your predicament...

...but Alfred Borden's life hangs in the balance.

If you were prepared to disclose the details to me in private...

...I might be able to judge their relevance to the case.

Might this be an acceptable compromise?

I'm gonna have to ask you to turn out your pockets.

Not my idea, sir.

The warden saw his show in Manchester last year...

...where he vanished into thin air.

He's convinced he'll try and escape.

I told him the only way that Borden's gonna disappear...

...is if I leave him out there with the other inmates.

Check the locks.

Twice.

My name is Owens.

I'm a solicitor.

I represent Lord Caldlow, accomplished amateur magician and historian--

How much?

- Lord Caldlow is interested-- - How much for my tricks?

Five thousand pounds.

Talk with Fallon, my ingénieur. Money's for him.

Yes, I did. He offered to sell me your tricks.

All except the most valuable one: The Transported Man.

Well, I wouldn't forgive myself for selling my greatest trick.

Even for your daughter?

If the newspapers are right and you are for the drop...

- ...your daughter will need looking after. - Fallon will take care of her.

Bernard Fallon? A man with a past almost as obscure as your own.

Courts motioned that the girl be removed from his care.

No, the girl will be an orphan.

I know you're no stranger to the workhouse. It's better than here?

I'm offering you a way to wrap up your affairs with dignity.

And I'm offering your daughter a future.

As Lord Caldlow's ward, she will want for nothing. Ever.

Well, think it over.

And Lord Caldlow would like you to have this as a show of good faith.

He said it might be of interest. This is Robert Angier's diary.

Including the time he spent in Colorado learning your trick.

- He never learned my trick. - Really?

On his return from Colorado, he mounted a version of The Transported Man...

...that the papers said was better even than your original.

If you want Angier's secrets, you go dig him up and ask him yourself.

I want your secret, Mr. Borden.

Consider your daughter.

A cipher. An enigma.

A search. A search for answers.

Even if Colorado is the end of my journey...

...it'll take much longer to unravel the rest of Borden's secrets.

See, the cipher in his notebook is unlocked by a single word...

...but it will still take months to translate his writing and to know his mind.

Well, my passion is equal to the task.

Mr. Angier? Welcome to Colorado Springs.

- The whole town has electricity. - Yes, sir.

Well, quite a reception.

You're our first guest of the season, Mr. Angier.

Your telegram didn't indicate how long you'll be staying with us.

For as long as it takes.

I'll need a coach tomorrow to take me up the mountain.

Well, the peak is closed, sir, for scientific experimentation.

Yes, I know. That's why I'm here.

Whoa, whoa.

You'll have to walk the rest, I'm afraid, sir.

Ah!

I'm amazed how many of you newspaper writers can't read my sign.

Not the welcome I was expecting.

I know you.

You're the Great Danton. I saw your show in London seven times.

You guessed every object the audience had in their pockets.

I'm Alley.

Sorry about the fence. People interfere with our work.

- I've come to see Tesla. - Why?

He made a machine for a colleague of mine some time ago.

- Can you get me a meeting with him? - Impossible, I'm afraid.

I brought a lot of money.

I'm sorry, Mr. Angier.

I simply can't help you.

I'll be staying at the hotel. Indefinitely.

Hey, what am I holding?

Your watch.

Borden's journal entry for April 3rd, 1897...

...describes a show at the Orpheum Theater.

That was just days after he first met me.

We were two young men at the start of a great career.

Two young men devoted to an illusion.

Two young men who never intended to hurt anyone.

Which of you brave souls is willing to bind this lovely young woman?

if you would tie her wrists.

Bind her feet around the ankle.

Are either of you two gentlemen sailors?

- No. - No.

I'm sure you can both tie a strong knot.

He's complacent, he's predictable, he's boring.

I mean, Milton has gotten success, whatever that means...

...and now he's scared. He won't take any risks at all.

I mean, he's squandering the goodwill of the audience...

- ...with tired, second-rate tricks. - They're old favorites.

Favorites? Give me something fresh. He won't even try a bullet catch.

A bullet catch is suicide.

All it takes is some smart-ass volunteer to put a button in the barrel.

- Fine. Use a plant. You can't for every trick.

- There'd be no seats left for the punters. - No bullet catch.

But the point is that a real magician tries to invent something new...

...that other magicians are gonna scratch their heads over.

And then you sell it to him for a small fortune.

- All right. - Yeah.

I suppose you have such a trick.

- Actually, I do. - Would you care to sell it to me?

No. No one else could do my trick.

- Any trick can be duplicated, right? - Wrong.

If Mr. Borden has invented his masterpiece...

...it might be only he's prepared to do it.

Milton is a great showman, but Borden is right.

He won't get his hands dirty.

If you wanna see what it takes to make real magic, go to the Tenley.

There's a Chinaman there, and he really has what it takes.

- Chung Ling Soo. - Pricey. I can't afford that.

I know the bloke on the door.

You two go and see that show...

...and whichever one of you can tell me...

...how he does the goldfish-bowl trick...

...gets a prize. All right.

- Which is? - Ten minutes on-stage...

...with my old friend Mr. Ackerman.

- Really? - Who's Ackerman?

The top theatrical agent in London.

I saw you drop the knot again.

I think I turned my wrist. - Some nights you don't get it, do you?

I mean, if that knot slips and Julia's on the hoist, she'll break a leg.

It's the wrong knot. Like I said, the Langford double will hold tighter.

The Langford double isn't a wet knot. It's too dangerous.

If the rope swells up, she won't slip it.

- I can slip a Langford underwater. - She can slip it. We'll practice.

Hey, Borden, he said no.

Yeah, well, you know knots better than me, do you?

Listen, no more mistakes.

All right. Yeah, do you? You wanna take over?

- Just leave it. - I didn't think so.

- Hey, Cutter, where's he from? - Where are you from?

- He shifts props for Virgil at the hall. - Don't you worry he'll steal your tricks?

- He doesn't deal in methods. - How do you know?

Because I hired him to find out how Virgil does the orange trick.

- Well, I don't trust him. - He's a natural magician.

Of course you can't trust him.

I think he's all right.

- You think everyone's all right. - Even you.

Watch your sight lines. If I can see you kissing your wife's leg every night...

...so can the blokes at the ends of row three and four.

You're wrong. It can't be. No, it is.