A Well-Crafted, Well-Acted Atmospheric La Belle Epoque Viennese Mystery

Rating: 10/10 (10 January 2007)

Steven Millhauser's brilliant little short story 'Eisenheim the Illusionist' is beautifully realized cinematically by Neil Burger who not only adapted the story as a screenplay but also directed with a great flair for the subject. Wisely using the repeated line 'Nothing is what it seems' Burger infuses this dark investigation into the lives of the divided Viennese classes and suggests the crumbling of the Austro-Hungarian Empire with the focus on the illusory magic of one Eisenheim (finely characterized by Edward Norton) and its effects on the Crown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell) and the bifurcated Duchess Sophie (Jessica Biel).
As children Eisenheim and Sophie were friends despite the disparity of their class: Sophie was royalty (a Duchess) and Eisenheim was the son of a cabinetmaker to the court. They fall in love but are separated by caste and Eisenheim wanders Asia and Russia learning the vagaries of magic and illusionist tricks while Sophie is raised at court to become the wife of Crown Prince Leopold, whose plans to overthrow his father the Emperor to become the King of both Austria and Hungary have made him an obsessive scoundrel.
Years later Eisenheim enters Vienna as a showman, under the tutelage of his impresario Josef Fischer (Eddie Marsan), delighting audiences with his illusionist tricks. His impossible love for Sophie resurfaces and he becomes suspect in his role as an illusionist and as a threat tot he Crown. Eisenheim is investigated carefully by Chief Police Inspector Uhl (a brilliant role by Paul Giamatti) and the manner in which the fates of the Crown versus the love of Eisenheim and Sophie are resolved is, well, 'Nothing is what it seems'.
The cast is outstanding, the setting (in Prague) is incredibly atmospheric, and the costuming and lighting and cinematography marry into a perfect fit. Adding to the illusionist spirit of the film is the fine musical score by Phillip Glass so well loved for his score for 'The Hours' and one of our most important classical music composers of the day. THE ILLUSIONIST is a fine, misty, dark evocation of life in La Belle Époque of Vienna, based enough on fact that the fiction employs the concept that nothing is what it seems. Grady Harp