Enjoyable historical romance-drama.

Rating: 7/10 (30 September 2010)

"The Illusionist" is a period drama set in Vienna around the turn-of-the-20th-century.The "illusionist" of the title is Eisenheim, a celebrated stage magician, and the story tells of his love for the aristocratic Sophie von Teschen. Eisenheim (whose real name is Eduard Abramovich) and Sophie were teenage sweethearts, but because of the difference in social class (he is the son of a cabinetmaker) their love was a hopeless one and her family forbade her to see him. When they meet again, Sophie is the reluctant fiancée of Crown Prince Leopold, the son of the Emperor Franz Josef and a drunken debauchee with a history of violence against women. (He is rumoured to have murdered a former mistress). To make matters worse, Leopold is planning a coup d'état to usurp the Imperial Crown from his father. Eisenheim has to call on all his skills as a magician to thwart Leopold's plans and to save Sophie from the prospect of a marriage which is hateful to her.
Leopold is, of course, a fictitious character. Franz Josef only had one son, Crown Prince Rudolf, who died in a suicide pact with his mistress in 1889. At the time the film is set the heir to the Habsburg throne was Rudolf's cousin, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Leopold, however, does bear some resemblance in character to the notoriously dissolute Rudolf (although not to the historical Franz Ferdinand, who was a devoted family man). Sophie is another fictitious character, although there was indeed a von Teschen family, a younger branch of the Habsburg dynasty, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Edward Norton can normally be relied upon to deliver a good performance, and does not disappoint here. His Eisenheim is, as befits a man whose trade is based upon mystery and illusion, suitably inscrutable and enigmatic, but behind his outwardly calm demeanour we can discern a powerful sense of right and wrong and a deep love for Sophie (Jessica Biel, looking as stunning as ever). Another important character is Paul Giamatti's Chief Inspector Uhl, the detective ordered by Leopold to spy on Sophie and Eisenheim. Uhl is a man of divided loyalties. On the one hand he is a patriot and a loyal servant of his emperor; on the other his own strong sense of morality leads him to despise Leopold and to sympathise with the young lovers.
The film has an unusual look. Although it is officially a colour film, it is characterised by dull tones and a lack of bright colours. The aim seems to have been to produce something reminiscent of a sepia photograph, appropriate to the period during which it is set. Overall this is an intelligent, well-written, well-acted and enjoyable historical romance-drama. 7/10