Every Christopher Nolan fan has that one movie they would go to war over. Okay, maybe going to war is a bit dramatic, but the underlying point remains. For some, it’s The Dark Knight trilogy because of the dark, psychological, and realistic tone it brings to the superhero genre. Others have argued that Inception changed cinema, and anyone who has seen the movie will find it difficult to argue against that premise. Then there’s Oppenheimer, a biographical film that allowed Nolan to showcase his ability to turn complex historical figures and events into a suspenseful cinematic experience.
However, Christopher Nolan’s best film is an underrated gem that rarely enters the conversation. Maybe because it was released smack in the middle of the first two installments of The Dark Knight trilogy. That gem is the 2006 thriller, The Prestige. It’s surprising because the movie has everything audiences now praise Nolan for. That includes time jumps, characters ruining their lives because they can’t let stuff go, identity crises, and that special flavor of emotional damage where nobody learns a single lesson.
The Prestige Is Christopher Nolan Without The Filters
As previously indicated, The Prestige is where Nolan combined all his best moves in one movie. From the scrambled timeline to the whole “I just need answers even if it kills me and everyone around me” vibe. It’s all there. In fact, if anyone dropped Leonard from Memento or Cooper from Interstellar into this movie, no one would find it strange, because it’s the same vibe of exhausted characters making the worst possible choice, and then making another one right after.
Viewers see this clearly in the diary scenes. Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) steals Alfred Borden’s (Christian Bale) journal, thinking he’ll finally crack the secret of the “Transported Man” trick. But just a few moments after opening the diary, he realizes that Borden knew he would steal it. So the diary itself becomes a trap. It’s just classic Nolan, and the funny part is that the audience falls for it too.
Of course, it’s impossible to talk about The Prestige without the now iconic “Are you watching closely?” line from Cutter (Michael Caine). It’s a line that wouldn’t look out of place as a cool trailer moment, but Nolan built pretty much the entire movie around that idea. Every scene challenged viewers to notice what was right in front of them. Like why Fallon (also played by Bale) is always glued to Borden’s side, or why Sarah (Rebecca Hall) looks confused every time her husband acts like a completely different person, or why Angier chases applause like it’s going to fill the giant hole inside him. Spoiler: it doesn’t.
Unlike some of Nolan’s latter films, the audience never loses the emotional stuff under all the flash. Nobody’s saving the world here. These guys are just destroying themselves in increasingly dramatic ways because their egos can’t take a back seat for five minutes.
The Prestige’s Greatest Twist Isn’t The One People Talk About
For most people who have watched The Prestige, the most memorable part of the movie is David Bowie showing up as Nikola Tesla and building the Tesla Machine. While it’s hard to look past that iconic moment, the real twist in the movie is the double life Borden and his twin brother willingly chose to live. Once the mind-blowing fact that Borden and his twin brother are sharing one life becomes obvious, every earlier scene makes sense. Suddenly, viewers understand Sarah’s frustration when some days Borden is all lovey-dovey, and some days he’s just… distant. That’s what makes the movie stick emotionally. The tricks actually cost something.
One twin loves Sarah, but the other loves Olivia (Scarlett Johansson). One loses fingers after Angier sabotages a gun trick onstage, so the other cuts off his own perfectly good fingers to fit in. All because the secret has to stay… well, a secret. Just writing that sentence is weird enough, but that’s the point: the movie is committed to obsession.
Meanwhile, Angier goes even further off the deep end. After Tesla builds the machine, Angier starts cloning himself for every performance of “The Real Transported Man.” Each night, one version appears onstage while the other drowns beneath it in a locked water tank. The movie never fully answers whether the surviving Angier is the original or the clone. By the end, even he doesn’t know anymore. That small detail is more horrifying than any big sci-fi explosion.
Why The Prestige Keeps Getting Better With Age
It’s not unheard of that a movie loses its shine once people figure out what makes it tick. It’s just part of human nature to seek out the next best thing. It would appear, though, that The Prestige found a way to dodge that bullet. Simply put, it just keeps getting better with age. This is not to say that the reception wasn’t good back in the day.
In fact, when the film dropped in 2006, the feedback was more than favorable with a healthy Tomatometer score in the mid to high 70s percent, and a popcornmeter score of 90+%. Those figures have improved with a 77% Tomatometer score and a 92% Popcornmeter score. A lot of that is down to streaming services. Being able to revisit the movie at home means more people can catch all the tiny details Nolan hides in plain sight. And being able to catch those details has made the movie a more compelling watch.
Also, there’s the fact that, compared to other Nolan movies, there’s a fine balance of all of Nolan’s trademarks in The Prestige. For instance, Interstellar is a huge emotional rollercoaster, Inception is a visual monster, and Oppenheimer is a historical juggernaut. The Prestige, however, keeps everything locked together. Story, character, visuals, theme, structure, emotion, all moving in the same direction. Nothing feels like a waste. Honestly, that might be the movie’s greatest trick. It keeps changing every time viewers look at it closely, just like Cutter warned us.
So, if you appreciate Christopher Nolan‘s craft but have been too focused on his blockbusters like The Dark Knight trilogy, it’s time to revisit what’s arguably his best work as a filmmaker.
Follow Us
