"

 ""Only to the audience"" and planning of Angier's shooting 

Can someone please tell me how he recounts his method ""only to the audience""?  It seems to me that he's explaining his method directly to Borden as he was dying.  He tells Borden to ""look where you are"" and ""it takes courage to walk in every night not knowing whether I was going to be the prestige or the man in the box"" (paraphrasing).  Obviously, he doesn't play a video to Borden showing him exactly what we, the audience see, but it was pretty clear to me that these clips were meant to be explanatory not only to the audience, but in a sense to Borden as well.  The phrasing (included below) makes it sound like Borden never finds out how Angier did the trick.

""Similarly, flashbacks recount (only to the audience) Angier's method: that each time he disappeared during his illusion, he fell into a locked tank and drowned, and the machine created a duplicate who teleported to the balcony and basked in the applause.""

Also, having just watched the film again, it seems to me that Cutter colludes with Borden to allow Borden in to kill Angier so that Angier can re-unite with his daughter (who he earlier recommends that she ""needs her father."")  Cutter leaves ""Lord Caldlow's"" estate disgusted, as he has stolen Borden's daughter and helped frame him for murder.  I assume that he resolved to help Fallon/Borden to get his daughter back after finding out that Lord Caldlow was really Angier.  Thoughts?

 

The ending of the film Angier is still alvie. This is the reason for Caines V.O. asking the audience to ""see it"" Now if you pause the DVD you will actually see an air bubble rise int he water. How am I the only one who see this? I will keep changing this page till people understand this. Thank you  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.42.208.182   
Please review the archive links at the top of this page.  We discussed this when the film was originally released.  — | Talk 

So what are you suggesting? An Angier hid in a water tank, held perfectly still and held his breath for a at least 5 good minutes... For what? If there is an air bubble it's probably because Jackman needed to breathe...  
The air bubble is real; I saw it twice in the theater and on DVD.  I can upload a screen shot from the DVD with the air bubble if necessary.  The point is, other editors have argued that this doesn't mean anything, however what bothers me is this: the Nolan's are really good at what they do.  If we saw the air bubble, then you can bet they saw it, and if it was a mistake, it would have been digitally removed.  The fact that they left it in the film is very interesting, and nicely parallels the end of the novel itself.  On the other hand, it doesn't make sense.  The Angier floating in the tank is clearly dead and has no way of getting out. — | Talk 

 Plot Ending 
In the plot description of this page it states that the film ends with Borden eyeing the water traps containing the dead duplicates of Angier. However, when I saw the film (and I may be mistaken in this) it seemed as if the trap shown immediately before the credits contained a living Angier. This fact was further emphasized when the camera panned away from the burning theatre and to the body of Angier, which had wide open eyes and appeared to be viewing the scene that had just occurred between Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale, and the credits roled immediately after he came into full view (only showing the body for a second). It may also be that the director included this to leave the audience guessing as to whether or not the body was alive or not and whether Angier did in fact have the last laugh. Either way, a reference to this should be included into the Plot Summary.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by  (talk • contribs)  
Keep in mind that like most Nolan films, the film is non-linear, so the plot summary synthesizes in many areas, including the conclusion.  This format isn't de rigueur, and improvements are always welcome as long as the plot is short and sweet per WP:MOSFILM.  As for whether Angier has his eyes open or is alive, that is pure speculatio