Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige Has His Darkest Ending

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Roger Ebert described The Prestige as haunting, intense, and even unsettling, and the film truly lives up to that description. Director Christopher Nolan is famous for both grand historical dramas and mind-bending science fiction, and The Prestige skillfully blends those two styles. Despite early predictions of failure, the movie was a major financial success, earning $109 million around the world on a $40 million budget.

The film The Prestige tells the story of two magicians, Robert Angier and Alfred Borden, during the Victorian era. What begins as a close friendship devolves into a bitter and obsessive rivalry. As they compete to create more spectacular illusions, both men become consumed by their craft, ultimately leading to a tragic and dark conclusion, typical of director Christopher Nolan’s style.

The Prestige Was the Story of Two Magicians on a Scientific Quest

I first learned about Angier and Borden when I read they both started out helping the great magician Milton and his engineer, John Cutter. They’d often work as fake audience members, getting ‘chosen’ for the tricks. Angier had a wife, Julia, who was a key part of the show – she was often the one being ‘saved’ in illusions, like the famous water tank escape. Sadly, that’s where their intense rivalry really began. Borden, against Angier’s clear warnings, used a dangerous knot on Julia during that very trick, and she tragically drowned. It was a horrible accident that fueled everything that happened after.

When Borden said he couldn’t recall the knot he’d used, it caused a rift between him and the aspiring magician, Angier. The film The Prestige then shows them going their separate ways. Borden found love with Sarah, started a family, and took on Fallon as an assistant. At the same time, Angier brought on a new assistant named Olivia, reinvented himself as “The Great Danton,” and kept working with the engineer, John Cutter.

Angier discovered that Borden’s seemingly impossible teleportation act wasn’t a trick with a stand-in, but a genuine magical effect created by a special machine. He invested more money in Nikola Tesla, hoping Tesla could build a similar device for him. Tesla delivered, creating a machine that actually produced instant clones a short distance away, giving the illusion of teleportation. This allowed Angier to create his famous act, ‘The Real Transported Man’.

Christopher Nolan’s film The Prestige, inspired by Christopher Priest’s novel, mirrors the structure of a magic trick itself. Like a good illusion, the story unfolds in three parts: the setup, where the trick begins; the turn, where something unexpected happens; and the prestige, the impressive finale. Just as a magician needs dedication and precision, Nolan builds suspense throughout the movie, starting with the shocking scene of Angier seemingly drowning at the hands of Borden.

The story unfolded mostly through flashbacks, revealing a bitter rivalry between Angier and Borden. In the present, Borden was wrongly imprisoned for Angier’s murder. Angier used Olivia to spy on Borden, but she ended up falling in love with him and betraying Angier. Borden, in turn, deliberately sabotaged Angier’s performances, publicly embarrassing him. Both men were consumed by their obsession with one another, hurting everyone around them, ultimately leading to a shocking and unexpected truth.

The Prestige’s Ending Still Wows Audiences

Many of Christopher Nolan’s films leave a lasting impression, but The Prestige is particularly unsettling because it truly shows how far ambition and hatred can drive people. The two main characters, Borden and Angier, were consumed by their rivalry and a relentless need to be the best. Their pursuit of greatness led them to increasingly disturbing lengths, culminating in a shocking and unexpected twist.

Jackman’s character, Angier, discovered not only how he survived being seemingly killed, but also the secret behind Borden’s incredible teleportation illusion. He made a deal with Tesla, using a machine that Tesla warned would bring more pain than happiness. Angier realized the machine created an exact duplicate of him elsewhere, allowing him to fool audiences into believing he had truly teleported.

It was a huge issue, really. Every time Angier performed that incredible illusion, more and more duplicates of himself would appear. It meant a growing number of ‘him’ walking around! But he was so consumed by his rivalry, so determined to win against Borden, that he made an unbelievable choice – a truly selfless sacrifice of his own life.

Each time he used Tesla’s machine to create a duplicate of himself, the original Angier – the one the audience had originally seen – was drowned in a water tank. This was a horrifying act, made even worse by the realization that Angier was willing to kill a version of himself every day just to receive applause and overcome Borden. It felt like an extreme price to pay for achieving greatness, but Angier went through with it regardless.

However, The Prestige had one last surprise in store. The complex ending revealed that Borden had always been one step ahead of Angier, consistently maintaining a calm demeanor and expertly crafting illusions. The realism of his “Transported Man” trick was confirmed by the fact that the finger injury he received from Angier’s bullet also appeared on the Borden who seemingly teleported. Immediately after being hanged for the murder of “Angier,” Borden reappeared to confront his enemy and deliver a fatal shot.

The famed magician Borden wasn’t one person, but identical twins who secretly shared a single life. They worked together, with Fallon actually being one of the brothers in disguise, to create the illusion of a single, incredible performer. Their dedication was so extreme that when one brother lost a finger, the other had the same injury replicated. Both brothers were also in love with and cared for Sarah and Olivia, and they were content to sometimes share the stage.

The Prestige Was Dark, But Its Twist Was Darker

Both Borden and Angier were consumed by magic, driven to extremes in their pursuit of being the ultimate illusionist. Angier meticulously planned to frame Borden for his own death, while the Borden brothers cleverly merged their identities to create an unbelievably convincing deception. This relentless ambition ultimately destroyed them all; even Sarah, unable to cope with the lies and betrayal, took her own life.

From the very beginning of The Prestige, with the haunting scene involving the twin birds – one living, one dead – the film establishes an intense rivalry fueled by ego and obsession. As the story unfolds, both magicians, Borden and Angier, become consumed by their pursuit of authentic magic, ultimately losing their humanity. By the film’s end, they aren’t truly themselves anymore, but rather hollow figures defined only by their reputations and the awe of their audiences.

This movie is complex and deceptive, subtly revealing its secrets throughout its 2 hour and 10 minute duration. For the magicians in the film, everything is a performance, and they’re willing to risk anything for recognition. The final shot – rows of water tanks filled with the bodies of Angier’s duplicates – is haunting and illustrates the destructive, never-ending rivalry between Borden and Angier.

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2026-01-13 01:18