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The machine doesn't work.

Great appreciation for a fantastic film that rewards re-viewing, like many of his films do. But I was very distracted by the repeated (but differentiated) mispronunciations of Cuarón’s name. It’s not “quran” or “kee ran” or “cue ran”: it’s “kwa RONE”. For all the appreciation, please at least say the man’s name closer to correctly. It’s not that hard.

The movie is at its heart Nolan asking whether making movie ‘magic’ was worth the cost of less time with his family (half a life.) I assume this is the breadcrumb that became Inception.

This is the first theory on the movie that I can actually buy. I'm not sure that I buy that Borden and Fallon are clones instead of twins part, but Cutter could certainly have more ambition than what is shown. If Borden and Fallon are clones, then them sharing in every part of 2 lives isn't really a sacrifice as they each already believe they are the same person. Sharing the lives would be a desire so that neither has to give up the life they had.

Isn’t the simpler reason Borden says Tesla is the key to the truck beyond sending him on an intentional wild goose chase (which he makes explicit in the diary) if there need be one is that Tesla invented the ‘alternating current’ which was superior to Edison’s ‘direct current’ which can be seen as a metaphor for Borden’s and Angier’s different approaches to magic

Bordens are tight. No indication either brother would sabotage the other. I Don’t buy your interesting theory.

Bird 1 is crushed and Bird 2 appears and Bird 1: audience claps. Angiers x is drowned and Angiers x+1 appears and appears as Angiers x: whole concert hall claps. Repeat x 60. Borden 1 is hung and Borden 2 appears as Borden 1: Daughter claps.

The difference between the two women, sorry, is only the class. Why you guys are also throwing down our throat the race too? So manipulative and annoying. Regardless, I bow to your gorgeous work. One of the best Roma's reviews around. (((((-:

you want to be....fooled

I have another theory. Angiers duplicated himself one more time after retirement and kept his twin hidden. After becoming Cauldwell, watching Borden hang, and discovering the secret of his trick, Cutter discovered the identity of Cauldwell and became his accomplice, helping to lure Borden’s twin below stage knowing he would be after revenge, to kill Angier’s last duplicate who would sacrifice himself to make Borden think he had succeeded. Feeling vindicated, Borden would then vanish into obscurity, making Angiers the winner, the better magician, the feud would be over. Borden was his last audience. Angiers was insistent on Borden seeing the 99 bodies of himself, he wanted to feel that wonder from Borden when he saw how Angiers had made his trick work. Cauldwell, now rich, could live his life free. He bought a manor, changed his name to Wayne, married, and had a son he called Bruce. Cutter stayed with the family as their butler and called himself Alfred. Batman Begins was the sequel to The Prestige. OK maybe not the last part, but who knows, or keeping Cutter as an accomplice - I think Angiers fooled him too and never saw him again. But I think Angiers lived on as his last duplicate, rich and secure in the knowledge his trick could never be bettered. He had won.

I’m not sure about Tesla but I’m pretty confident Bowie was a real wizard

But are the Nolan brothers clones? 🤨

1- the machine is a ruse to fool audience, such a thing could never exist. u never see a duplicate cat and the hats are just hats placed by Teslas assistant to secure further funds from the gullible. 2- Angier is implied to be the lesser of the two magicians, this is another misdirection he is the greater. Proof is him rejecting the Prestige notes near the end, see he already figured out a twin was involved. Unlike Borden he has no financial qualms and comes from extremely wealthy family, wealthy enough to contruct a new water tank, hire lookalikes, always be informed of latest trickery and buy Cutters full loyalty. 3- Angier also has twin brother. It is said directly: "I dont care about her I care about the secret" this is the Angier twin not in love with water tank lady, the one sending Olivia as spy is the other one. The difference is Angier is aware of Bordens twin the other isnt. 4- Cutter remains an employee for Angier throughout. Once again the audience is misdirected to believe he switched to the Bordens service, this is not so, he is in on Angiers ploy to fool his opponent. 5: So what happened? Well Angier uses his twin too of course, thats the secret to explaining the finale. Angier elaborately keeps creating water tanks to lure Borden in, creating a sense of mystical (he is confirmed to be the greater showman) when he spots Borden inspecting the machine he drops not himself but Root the actor in the water, himself is in higher compartment. Root dies, Borden takes the blame. At the end they both lose a twin, Bordens gets hanged and Angiers twin gets shot by 'Falllon'. Its an Angier twin because u can see there is no limp on his leg, the real Angier is in the water tank alive and well holding his breath for the 'Prestige'. He fooled Borden ultimately, Borden never knew Angier had a twin too (remember the old china man, the Angiers were ahead of the Bordens already then, Borden revealed his secret) but the message of the movie is just what Tesla said 'Obsessions are the end of you'. All 4 of them became obsessed with the secrets and it costs them their brothers and spouses leaving them both alone yet content in their obsession. Nobody wins, one has a child but is a dead man just hanged so there will be no more shows and Angier can never reveal himself alive again otherwise he would give Borden the secret

It's 20541, or otherwise totally mentioned if you pay attention. CC helps too as they kind of screw around with it...not that the right one does any good at all!!

Even if you get the number right, the lady isn't there after all! How stupid!!

I loved this video, now that I’ve seen you explain one of the Bourdan twins being a clone, I don’t know how I never thought of that possibility. Also, I think there was one more tandem pretending to be different people as well. I think David Bowie who plays Tesla is actually not Tesla, yet a man hired to play him just as Angiers does. I believe Tesla was the gentleman who played his assistant/ handler. He’s the one always explaining the science and doing most of the talking, while the other gentleman is simply just acting as if he is Tesla. But who the heck knows with this movie, this one I always felt I could be wrong about what I thought of it, and probably was.

did the school bankrup or otherwise kill him?

You are completely missing the point...the machine doesn't work. It was a scam. You want to be fooled!

Can't get on board with your theory, as Cutter seemingly gets nothing, it's Angier, not Angiers, there is no such word as "alot," The twins had first names, not "Borden 1" and "Borden 2," and, alas "sub-sequent."

To add more on top of this, Tesla played by David Bowie is most likely not Tesla but an actor to hide the real Tesla in plain sight; his servant played by Andy Serkis. Isn't it odd that he shows Angia all the technology and writes the operation for the machine, and not our assumed Tesla. Interesting fun fact, Tesla owned a black cat, but in the film, we're lead to believe its the servant's cat.

Acknowledge the fact Borden #2 is Tesla copy for Borden. Borden took his gift and left. Other Magician dealt his dark Karma over 100 times. It caught him up in the end. Borden is a copy

The scariest thing about this film is a duality . The whole point of the film is it rarely makes a moral point but asks which person is worse? Angier is prepared to kill himself every night he does the trick ultimately for the pursuit of fame and oneupmanship and revenge. The Bordens' obsession with being great magicians ultimately kills 1 of them AND results in the deaths of 2 others. The key to the film is the lengths that the Chinese magician is willing to go to succeed in his trick. Angier wants The trick Bordensdo years of hard work. Ultimately Angier kills himself releatedly showing he's as dedicated if insane!

Why does Angier beg to be let out of the water case as if he were fooled to get into it? Isn’t he aware of how the trick works?

There are no clones. We beleving in the machine It's the trick of the movie. The movie it's a psychological thriller not science fiction movie. Both diaries are manufactured to fool the readers. Most of the movie seen on screen it's characters reading the events written in the diary not real events..."The pledge" We end up believing n the clone machine and Borden tricks. "The turn" At the end, audience watching the movie still believing in the cloning the machine is the true prestige for Nolan. We want to be fooled. Angier went around the world, spent a fortune and did terrible things by killing multiple doubles for his limited shows. Borden knows it at the end that's why he doesn't want to look further for the tricks. He got fooled by his own trick losing wife and brother.

What I see here is the Tarot. The magican is the highest card. - it's a high stakes game. And the game of Power is about the Art of Illusion. - the movie shows the hardship of being at the top of the Pyramid. Having to pretend all the time.

Borden didn't tie an impossible knot. The (knot tying Borden) wasn't aware that the knot he tied would swell in the water. The other Borden was aware because he was the one warned of it in the beginning of the film.

Your idea that Cutter is manipulating the whole thing seems correct. But you need to revise the theory to take into account that Tesla's machine doesn't work to produce duplicates. It just throws a lot of sparks. Unless you want to be fooled. The machine doesn't work.

One of my favorite movies. Actor Christian Bale

It doesn't work to have one borden twin know and the other not. After all, they're duplicates.

It was a beautiful movie... filmed beautifully and only a small script its a visual movie that speaks for itself, it doesn't need a lengthy script... if you dont like subtitles its a plus as you get to read and still look at the beauty of the film. A film that shows people treating people well, with love and care no matter their station/role in life... they truly love Cleo and the other household help and vice versa. The young lad was talking to Cleo about past lives on several occasions and always interrupted - he had been a pilot and a sailor and he says when he was old Cleo was with him in that life and I wish they explored that more.....

This was a beautiful film..... your TERRIBLE MUSIC PLAYING THROUGHOUT UYOUR TALKING HAS RUINED THIS REVIEW !!!!

Bro U really over thinking this

angiers should of won fork batman

I've read not only 20541, but 20145 in some articles as well.

Misuse of the word counterpoint.

These are great reviews. I'm sorry your channel didn't take off.

Why does everyone who does analysis of this film put an S and the end of Angier?

Andy Serkis was Tesla NOT bowie....Andy remarks the black cat was his (its the scene when the cat is in his wooden cage).....Tesla had a black cat in real life. Also Andy was the one demonstrating in Colorado and pulling the levers on the film.....never bowie. He mentions calibrations, etc.....bowie is never scene operating the machine.

Borden 1 is Science. Borden 2 is Religion (sacrificed). Angier is Aristocracy. Cutter is the Aristocratic Court. They are also named after the alphabet (A,B,C) to distinguish their rank of power in the game, or maybe just their hierarchical position.

This makes the movie 100% more scarier!😂😖😣

Borden had a clone from tesla!!! If he had a twin then he would have done the trick long before he was an assistant already!! The bigger question is , on which side cutter really was? I think he and Mr.A helped Borden to make another clone bec why did they put the machine to a special place at the end and that switching scenes between the theater and the court house. I thought sometimes the machine was right under the place where they hanged him so he fell into that but it wasn't. So that means cutter tricked Borden to shoot Mr.A's clone because the last clone in the water tank was alive and holding his breath 🤔 that was Mr.A I think. So both men were alive after all!

Dude, no. You are skeptical about all the unreliable narrator stuff, yet you just assume that the 'magical machine' is real and works? If there's a hidden extra layer to this film, it's watching it again, and assuming that the machine is just BS set dressing for Angiers' trick.

Borden did not conspire to have his brother executed

Whoa! I'm blown away!

Very original, clever theory - but I am not convinced. There is definitely a another hidden layer with the ending, but I don't think this is it. Cutter was too sincere in his motivations. Plus if all Tesla/Cutter/everyone else wanted to do was to get rich - all.they had to do was place a 100 gold bars in the machine and turn it on a couple hundred times. Remember the machine duplicated inanimate objects as well. So once Cutter got access to the machine seems like he could become an instant millionaire and that is without tricking, kidnapping and helping people go down for crimes they didn't commit.

This movie was so beautiful. It took me a while to finally sit a watch it. But I regret not doing it sooner. My heart just felt all kinds of emotions. It moved me. Cleo was amazing. Each character brought something amazing to the story. I wanted more at the end. 🥰

Bro what movie were you watching🤣?? Borden 1 selling out his brother really?🤣 I mean cutter trying to get Angier's wealth is a bit of stretch but it could be true, but the twins that have shared a life all their lives are turning on each other? They literally each gave up fingers, love and one ultimately his life. They literally get revenge in the end because of this, but somehow we're supposed to believe Borden 1 helped Angier set up his brother, yet he killed him after Angier set up Borden 2 and he was hanged🤔!! I know Nolan's movies are usually open to interpretation but this takes the cake as on of the most out there theories😂 Maybe watch the movie again and some reviews on it.

In a Michael Caine accent: Your theory has gone off the bloody rails!

Now I can watch it for the third time. Really cool movie.

Too far of a reach this theory