Dazzles in its Enigmatic Mystique

Rating: 8/10 (25 June 2012)

Picture this: you're at a magic show and see an impossible but brilliant magic trick. A mix of awe and bewilderment consumes you as you lust after the answer you will not likely get. But here is an unrelenting quest for that answer, a determination to find out how for a cause which is dark, twisted and mystifying. Such is the way 'The Prestige' engrosses you.
A period drama depiction of a unique post-renaissance art, 'The Prestige' shows the lengths to keep, attain and steal secrets, a story about power, pride and mind games with the viewers, the on-camera audience and the characters. We see what was the foundation of modern day magic but the darker, more cutthroat side of it which is both morally and ethically questionable.
The film is based around a piece de resistance and the way in which the illusionary employed translates to treachery. The vicious circle of deceit and obsession for power and respect is mind- boggingly riveting. Christopher Nolan leads you on a path where everybody looks antagonistic and spiteful, he gradually changes your perceptions of people in ways which can be sudden and in others where you watch the morphing process as it unfolds, much like a stage tragedy sans the melodrama.
The title works in such a contrasting manner to the film, the two protagonists aim for prestige but in doing so, seek to destroy one another's. The great shroud of mystique involved in this process is complicated and takes time to grip your mind from believing 'The Prestige' to be just another period drama. It was not a film that captures your imagination from square one even if it may with time. It ambles along in a manner befitting a magician revelling in his trickery but the pace can be frustrating, if only for the sin of curiosity.
Christian Bale presents Alfred Borden as this arrogant, cocky lad but beneath that presumptuousness and pride lies a crafty and wily conniver but comfortably the more intelligent of the two illusionists. Bale shows this so subtly yet with panache through the character's actions which are brief but have wide ramifications. He also brings a sense of irony to the character, one in which he apparently disguises truth from himself making for a strangely compelling personality.
This wild ambition meets Robert Angier's emotion, which drives him to sink to Borden's depths despite being a more astute character. Hugh Jackman's performance is an emotional roller-coaster, the character that Nolan uses to toy with our minds in this wonderfully curious manner, whose descent is portrayed with fervour. The female lead, Scarlett Johansson, is superbly enigmatic. She is the advertisement of the film representing the mystery and unpredictability embodying the story.
The quintessential illusion is described at the beginning and the film plays out like these three acts building to 'the prestige', the big divulgence. Simple but sensational was how it struck me, but each to their own experiences, it depends what questions you desire to be answered. Nonetheless, whether it robs you of your dream reveal or gives it to you, you cannot deny the ingenuity surrounding the mystery ride you've been put on.