A frustrating movie experience

Rating: 4/10 (2 September 2006)

I had high expectations for this film. The cinematography was beautiful. The cast was excellent, especially Jessica Biel and Ed Norton. Norton is especially adept at his magic tricks. The illusions were intriguing. However,the story is confusing. What are we to believe about what happens and how? There is just not enough explanation concerning what is going on. Too much is left to the imagination. The ending was just not plausible. We might want to believe it, and it is romantic, and typically Hollywood, but how does it come about? Is this a "ghost story?" As to Crown Prince Leopold, historically, didn't he commit suicide with a mistress whom he first kills? Much poetic license is taken with the plot. I came away from the movie very frustrated and unsettled.