"You have to bring it back."

Rating: 8/10 (26 February 2007)

Adapted by director Christopher Nolan and his brother Jonathan from the Christopher Priest novel, The Prestige has a number of secrets, cleverly wrought and carefully structured in an escalating series of dramatic revelations that may need multiple viewings to fully unravel. Tightly plotted and thematically well-crafted, the film offers converging lessons regarding seemingly harmless illusions that belie grim realities, charades that must be maintained off the stage as well as on, and the hazards of an all-important secret confederate, all coming together in climactic plot twists both haunting and unsettling.
Both films also emulate the three-part structure of a magic trick, as outlined by Cutter in an opening voice-over. In old-school magic parlance, the three acts are called the Pledge, the Turn, and the Prestige. The Pledge offers the audience assurances that nothing funny is going on (please shuffle the cards yourself; nothing up my sleeve, etc.). The Turn is the moment when something extraordinary happens (and the handkerchief is gone!). The third act, the Prestige, seals the dealbrings the handkerchief back, say. "It's not enough to make something disappear," Cutter explains. "You have to bring it back."