NAMELESS AND FAMELESS

The Ending

Now, with a film like this there's a lot to talk about with the ending, so let me specify the points I'll be talking about; The Borden Twins and Angier's Clones. First of all there's the reveal that there are two Borden's. Throughout the entire film, there are two key things we know about Alfred Borden. He refuses to reveal his secrets and he is almost always accompanied by a man who I believe was named 'Fallon'. We discover that Borden is able to do The Transporting Man because, as Cutter (Michael Caine) said all along, he has a double. Fallon is Borden's twin. Not just that, but Borden and Fallon, ultimately both Borden, have been switching all throughout the movie, both men taking turns as each character so as to both lead a half-life. This is, in the words of Borden, 'total devotion to the craft'. I loved this reveal, but I can't say I was taken by surprise. Here are the vital clues that allowed me to figure this out a mere hour into the movie.

 

• Love for Sarah Borden
  Sarah Borden (Rebecca Hall) is Alfred's wife, although only one of the two Alfred's love her. This is apparent early on during a key scene in which Alfred tells her he loves her and Sarah says 'Not today'. Alfred asks her what she means and Sarah explains that 'Well some days it's not true'. When she said this, it made me momentarily picture Borden as two men, one that loved Sarah and one that didn't. While I almost immediately dispelled the image from my mind, it came into play later on.

• Love for Olivia Wenscombe
  That image of two men did not come back into my mind until Alfred Borden had fallen in love with Olivia (Scarlett Johansson). When declaring his love for Olivia, he is reminded that he married Sarah. To this, he says 'Yes. Part of me did. But the other part... the other part didn't. The part that found you, the part that's sitting here right now'. Come on! The truth was literally just thrown in our faces! Borden's strange talk of having two parts brought back that image of two Borden's in my mind, except now one of them loved Olivia. This was the moment when I realised that there were two Borden's, and suddenly I knew who the second one was, due to clue #3.

• Fallon
  For just a moment, Fallon was caught in just the right light and I looked at my Dad and said 'Gee, he looked a lot like Christian Bale just then'. My Dad completely ignored me, and I didn't bother repeating it, but I have to admit that his lack of response kept that thought in my mind. And when the moment came, it gave me the key to everything.

• The Birds
  While this wasn't really a clue as to the truth behind Borden, there was a pretty awesome moment of foreshadowing that I have to bring up, a moment that allowed me to know that one of the two Borden's were going to die. When Sarah is first introduced, she has taken her son to one of Alfred's independent magic shows. He does a trick with a bird in which he makes one disappear and another reappear. Most think it's the same bird, but Sarah's son points out that Borden simply used another bird that he refers to as it's brother. We now see the two birds as brothers, one brother that is killed while the other lives on in his place. These two birds were a metaphor for the two Borden's, and I personally thought that was bloody awesome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alright, now for the really controversial part of the ending; Angier. Throughout the movie, the big question was how did both Borden and Angier do their respective versions of the Transporting Man. We now know that Borden used a twin brother, but Angier has no twin. How does he do it? We've watched two hours of a film that has focused on magic as a form of trickery, misdirection and deception. All of it is real, the magicians have simply played on your mind. After two hours of realism, we suddenly discover that Angier performs the Transporting Man through the use of…..cloning?
That's right. That big electronic device that Tesla created for Angier is cloning him each time he uses it. One version of Angier is sent to the back of auditorium where he'll reveal himself, and the other drops into a tank and drowns.

 

When this first happened, I looked at my Dad and grimaced. "Cloning, Dad? Really?". I couldn't believe they'd just pulled this crap. Everything was so real and suddenly……cloning?!

I couldn't be too angry about it, though. They didn't suddenly throw it at you. In fact, the concept of cloning is introduced midway through the film with the cats and the hats. Also to add credence to the ending, it's kinda cool how the whole movie presents magic as smoke and mirrors, and then suddenly we're confronted with nothing short of real magic. In conclusion, my feelings change every ten minutes between two key things.

• The cloning was incredibly out of place and the detraction from realism took away from the movie as a whole

• The cloning and the inclusion of real magic was oddly fitting and gave the film a rather intriguing surreal sense to it.

 

My initial reaction was the first one, but the further I get from watching the film, the more I lean towards the second one. Ultimately, this half of the ending is the only issue I had with an otherwise awesome and mind-boggling movie.

 

The Themes

 

There are many interesting themes in this film, but only a few that I want to address.

 

Obsession and Sacrifice
The most reoccurring theme throughout this film is obsession, followed closely by sacrifice as they go hand in hand. As the film progresses, Borden and Angier become more and more obsessed with each other, each one also sacrificing more and more as the stakes of winning get higher and higher. There's a moment between Robert Angier and Nikola Tesla (David Bowie) in the film that almost perfectly sums up the inner conflict that both Borden and Angier are suffering through.

Tesla: Go home. Forget this thing. I can recognize an obsession, no good will come of it.

Angier: Why, haven't good come of your obsessions?

Tesla: Well, at first. But I followed them too long. I'm their slave... and one day they'll choose to destroy me.

Angier: If you understand an obsession, then you know you won't change my mind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Borden/Tesla vs Angier/Edison

During the time period in which The Prestige is set, the biggest battle in the US and the UK was the War of Currents between Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison. In fact, the Tesla/Edison battle is quite prominent throughout the entire film, with Tesla being a key character. I want you to take the following information about the Tesla/Edison war and see if any of it looks familiar to you.

 

Nikola Tesla creates a form of electric energy called AC (alternating current), and Thomas Edison brings out the similar but inferior DC (direct current). Both men battled to win over England, each claiming that their methods were superior. There was the public battle and the personal battle. Tesla won the personal battle, as his AC was better. However, Edison won the public war as, by copying Tesla's AC and presenting it better, his product was in higher demand.

 

Now, let's re-write some of that, shall we?

 

Alfred Borden creates a magic trick called The Transporting Man, and Robert Angier brings out a similar but inferior trick called The New Transporting Man. Both men battled to win over England, each claiming that their trick was superior. There was a public battle and a personal battle. Borden won the personal battle, as his Transporting Man was better. However, Angier won the public war as, by copying Borden's Transporting Man and presenting it better, his product was in higher demand.

 

I know it's quite the stretch, but I do personally think there's something to it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, all-in-all there isn't much more for me to talk about. Like I said, it's all ramblings in the end but I hope I put it into some sensible order for you.

 

I really enjoyed The Prestige, and it's a movie I will always be excited and happy to talk about. Whoever you are, feel free to message me (either on Nameless and Fameless or at my personal Facebook profile, which can be found in the 'About Us' page on the website) and talk about this awesome movie and any other awesome movies that are awesome!