It's miserable, solid all the way through. Posted by one very observant Redditor, the theory posits that a line read from … Some People Are Opting Out Of Traditional Prestige Economics. The Prestige gets right to the heart of why we even watch movies in the first place, and does so in a way that is both intellectually stimulating, deeply moving, and completely paradoxical. This is why I was confused at the end of the movie. Scenic Routes In Scenic Routes, Mike D’Angelo looks at key scenes, explaining how they work and what they mean. but we see it actually work at one point. The Prestige’s Prestige on Autopilot How can it possibly be? “Reddit has already figured out the third episode twist, so we’re changing that right now,” co-creator Jonathan Nolan said during a Westworld panel at the 24th annual Paleyfest in LA this week. Lord Caldlow/Angiers (Hugh Jackman) is the secret nobleman who has a flair for the art of illusion, while Robert Borden and his twin (Christian Bale) are … He killed his clones every time he did the real duplicating man. Angier was using a body double all along and kept it incredibly quiet, having learned from Borden how to perform a great magic trick by complete secrecy. The Prestige (2006), directed by Christopher Nolan, is a very complicated movie, primarily because two of the main characters are much, much more than they first appear. There will be spoilers for The Prestige from this point forward. He had a broken left leg for the rest of the movie. This interpretation better parallels the bird trick, in which the original bird is killed and a "twin" bird takes its place. You don't really want to know. This isn't fully developed but I think it's interesting to think about: At the end of the movie, we see what we interpret to be hundreds of Angier's clones from the machine floating dead in the glass boxes...but what if they aren't Angier's clones? Also given his overwhelming desire for personal revenge and creating the better illusion, using a double would be inferior (in his mind) and worthless. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. Bernard is a host replica of Arnold? That's another illusion! The plot mechanism of the movie is itself a magic trick, and the audience lets it fool them because it's exciting to believe that there is a magic cloning machine. He HAD a broken lag. So the characters weren't created by Nolan to mirror 'himself'. The Prestige is a 2006 mystery thriller film directed by Christopher Nolan, written by Nolan and his brother Jonathan, based on the 1995 novel of the same name by Christopher Priest.It follows Robert Angier and Alfred Borden, rival stage magicians in London at the end of the 19th century.Obsessed with creating the best stage illusion, they engage in competitive one-upmanship, with fatal results. The Theory of Electronic Conspiracy is said to be a variant of modern New World Order conspiracy theories. It was clearly not a science fiction movie, so why would they suddenly spring science fiction on us. WHO CANT FIND MULTIPLE BLACK HATS AND CATS. It tells the story of a prolonged feud between two stage magicians in late 1800s England. Is there something deeper going on? Double it until you can buy London, blacklist Borden, ruin his life forever, and live like a king of kings. ... to say that I really do think many people overrate The Prestige. What doesn't make sense to me about this theory, is that the movie already established that Angier is not willing to work with a body double. Now obviously in Inception and Momento, all is not what it seemed at first glance, you have to break it down. Those cases were his clones. Also, Jackman definitely doesn't trust using a double so why do you think he would take the risk again. The problem with this theory, as of this week, is that episode 3 ends with Dolores (the increasingly self-aware bot played by Evan Rachel Wood) strolling into Billy and Logan’s camp. What a ride. The Prestige (2006) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. The turn is making the man disappear and we wonder how he does it throughout the entire movie. Both of these characters reveal what Nolan hates AND loves about being both of these people everyday AT THE SAME TIME. We use cookies on our websites for a number of purposes, including analytics and performance, functionality and advertising. The fan theory: Labyrinth is a metaphor for a girl struggling with the onset of puberty. NOW, when Borden goes behind stage and finds Angier drowning, Angier is clearly struggling to breathe and tries to get out. The site may not work properly if you don't, If you do not update your browser, we suggest you visit, Press J to jump to the feed. Did I miss something? This comment has been overwritten by an open source script to protect this user's privacy. You don't really want to work it out - you want to be fooled.' and when we see him actually clone then shoot himself. But in getting back at Borden he wanted to become a more famous magician, which would explain why he didn't try to profit off the true function of the machine. The last lines of the movie are, "Now you're looking for the secret. The Prestige follows a rivalry waged between one-time partners and stage illusionists Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) and Alfred Borden (Christian Bale). They spent a signficant amount of time showing him changing the clunky iron cast, limping, etc. Knowing the truth of magic reminds you that it was all a carefully constructed lie in order to entertain you, whether that lie is Borden's perfectly constructed technique or Angier's glitz-and-glamour showmanship. Jackman was drowning, if he had any leg function, which we see that he did, he is definitely going to use his leg to try to escape, even if it causes him pain. Unlike many mystery movies, The Prestige is a film that begs its audience to go back and watch again, to see how obvious clues unfold, and how more subtle clues are revealed. The Prestige ending theory (SPOILERS) This isn't fully developed but I think it's interesting to think about: ... Then simply click on your username on Reddit, go to the comments tab, scroll down as far as possible (hint:use RES), and hit the new OVERWRITE button at the top. Or is it just a big mislead? This interpretation also furthers the idea that the magicians are willing to go to extreme lengths to preserve their tricks and reveals the dark underside of magic in the same way that the bird trick is later revealed to involve killing the other bird. but even if that was Tesla Bowie pulling a fast one on Magic Wolverine, we see Jackman activate the machine with himself and then shoot and kill himself. But the epilogue from Cutter suggests the same is true of The Prestige, although (assuming Tesla's machine was actually capable of recreating a man or object) at the end of the film all the loose ends appear to be tied. Proceed with 2 of you, taking turns on the two halves of the prestige. The audience knows the truth: the world is simple. During the dry run of Tesla's machine, we see Angier teleport, leaving the copy ON THE MACHINE. For Angier, it was never about the money. If the shot can be explained then the theory will be complete. I've poured over the movie and believe that every shot in the film gives enough doubt for the theory to be valid except one. The one below or above? That's the key to this long running fan theory about the Prestige. It criticizes the audience for their apathy towards the truth behind the illusion, then goes to reveal to us the harsh reality. It was created to help protect users from doxing, stalking, harassment, and profiling for the purposes of censorship. He either misses out on the prestige, or he needs someone else to do the build-up. At the end of the film, Cutter (Michael Caine) says 'now you're looking for the secret, but you won't find it because of course - you're not really looking. Angiers motive at this point is no longer magic or the applause it's simply to frame borden. 2 simple, amazing options come to mind: Buy some gold, any amount. Just... Wow. Let’s just cut to the chase and I will walk you through the explanation in a timeline format: Angier and Borden work together as plants in a show where Angier’s wife is accidentally killed. People have started to lose faith in the traditional recipe of prestige. You want to be fooled." If you would also like to protect yourself, add the Chrome extension TamperMonkey, or the Firefox extension GreaseMonkey and add this open source script. The movie is set up so that you watch Angier become obsessed with knowing the true nature of Borden's trick. Wow. The secret is that the machine never worked. So now I throw my Scooby Doo theory hat in the ring. They didn't, we were tricked into believing it was a working cloning machine. 2/19/16 12:00AM. But the epilogue from Cutter suggests the same is true of The Prestige, although (assuming Tesla's machine was actually capable of recreating a man or object) at the end of the film all the loose ends appear to be tied. level 2. Additionally, at the end of the film, we see another Jackman lookalike in one of the boxes. I had essentially the same theory but we seem to be a minority. Batman and Wolverine go into extreme lenghts to one up each other. We were tricked into believing the machine actually worked. It is epistolary in structure; that is, it purports to be a collection of real diaries that were kept by the protagonists and later collated. The following is a close reading of Chistopher Nolan's masterpiece The Prestige (2006) based on Todd McGowan's amazing analysis in the relevant chapter of his book The Fictional Christopher Nolan.You don't have to read the book to understand what I'm about to say since my article is meant to stand on its own feet. Yet it sits at a 75% on Rotten Tomatoes. He knew it was actual magic so those cases were really Angier. Since Caine has already ID ed one of the doubles, this would mean that Jackman had 2 lookalikes, both of whom were murdered. The answer to 7 year old me’s question is this: the villains always immediately admit and do the “Would have gotten away with it too” thing because the clues Mystery Inc collects and the conclusions they come to are often partial, or entirely inaccurate to the real situation. Angier fell right into his trick, gave him money, Tesla left a piece of shit and Angier realized the key to a good trick is taking the real secret to the grave. This must mean it is not Angier or a clone. Attempting to pick apart the machinations of what is designed as an illusion (films, theatre, video games) can reveal something ranging from disappointing to sinister. Only at the very end do we get any kind of confirmation of the real truth behind … Finally watched this tonight. I'd like to think that Angier would be very mistrustful of using another double after being betrayed by both Olivia and Roote. Also, Tesla explains numerous times that the machine should be destroyed as it is to dangerous. The ending monologue is just a reminder from the beginning that magic is better the less you understand. The title derives from the novel's fictional practice of stage illusions having three parts: the setup, the performance, and the … I don't think they were trying to trick you again; it's just making reference to the journey that Angier and you, a member of the audience just went through. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast, More posts from the FanTheories community. This means every clone must have a broken leg. Why else would Borden send him to Tesla. Angier and Borden represented the 2 sides of himself: Borden is the technically brilliant albeit somewhat cold filmmaker that made Memento while Angier is the blockbuster showman that made Batman Begins. He is the one that originally disguised Jackman's double and he has worked with the man for years. If it was a clone he would not be able to even use his leg much less bend it and kick forcibly with it. That included his "double", but which was the real Angier? The Prestige plays a trick on its audience, hiding a secret in plain sight. One person in this entire thread who actually bothered to watch the movie carefully. Welcome to /r/FanTheories! The men in the boxes are different in actuality but we're unable to notice the differences since we're not watching close enough; this plays on the recurring question, "are you watching closely?". According to some conspiracy theorists, virtual money – credit and debit cards – was created by a “secret group” that plans to dominate the world. I always wondered whether he was killing himself over and over, as in he has no idea whether the conscious 'him' on the stage would end up on the balcony or in the water, but he'd keep doing it anyway for the show. This is a fantastic film with a wonderfully twisty story, incredible acting, and excellent period detail. The story of a rapidly escalating feud between rival magicians in the 1800s, The Prestige proved Christopher Nolan wasn't a director to ignore. Angier is the pledge and turn and root (or other double if you prefer) is the prestige, ie on the balcony. EDIT: tl;dr- the machine doesn't make clones, Angier just finds body doubles and kills them afterwards, and our belief that the machine can clone is a manifestation of the movie's central theme criticizing ignorance and blind trust in science. ... Reddit agrees. Angier stated over and over in the movie he wanted the spot light. Iot7fV is also possibly the single most infamously broken prestige class WotC ever produced, though it's not quite as bad as you're making it sound. it was... it was the look on their faces...". --If Tesla needed money fast and to escape Feds, why would he sell a cloning machine when he could just clone shittons of money. The Prestige [SPOILERS] Posted by meeple on 4/12/15 at 10:30 pm. Lol yeah I'll concede that there are some holes to this but I think these scenes could be from Angier's perspective or something. YES. Doing that means watching the movie again and again, looking for even more-expertly concealed clues to help unwrap the mystery and discover the truth. There's a bunch more to it but I'll skip to some proof. The Prestige: 9 out of 10: Two magicians (Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale) develop a deadly rivalry that threatens them both. In addition to dialects and languages, prestige is The two go their separate ways and begin developing their own shows. Westworld Season 1's best aspects have proven to be its downfall, and it may be the most discussed element of the show's debut that fully broke Season 2: fan theories.. For all the subterfuge and narrative pivots, fans managed to crack nearly all of Westworld Season 1's mysteries. As Michael Caine's character says in the final voiceover "you're looking for the secret... but you won't find it, because of course you're not really looking. Angier's "disappearing man" trick is an illusion in more ways than one. Angier was a rich moron that had the money to spare. 16 2. What's your explanation for that? Some days I don’t get critics. Prestige varieties are language or dialect families which are generally considered by a society to be the most "correct" or otherwise superior. Westworld's Showrunners Disliked Fan Theories Getting It Right. trippy shit. You should know then, that it is based on a novel. My interpretation is that they are just body doubles that Angier finds (not sure exactly how he finds them but bear with me) and kills each time. Tesla just needed funding for his shit then he peaced fast cuz the feds were on his tail. The movie could be condemning blind faith in science: every other trick is revealed to the viewers except the machine and in the end, we believe that the machine clones people due to our trust in science rather than looking for an alternative explanation, which could further the parallel between science and magic. tl;dr - what was, like, up with the prestige brah? I've always thought that the Prestige took the easy way out, and 'magicked' it's way to a conclusion. Never use the machine again, never kill yourself. This proves your point about why didn't Tesla just duplicate money wrong. Whyyyy are the ratings for the movie so high. Borden makes multiple appearances at the show wearing a disguise. He is already rich by the start of the story and cared more for becoming famous. What's more incredible: a magician pulling a rabbit out of an empty hat, or a magician hiding a rabbit under a hidden panel in a trick hat?