This is mainly a review of the psychological points throughout the movie that I had to complete for a class.
The Prestige
The Prestige is about two magicians working
together to make a living and be the best show in town until, one day,
something goes terribly wrong that causes two friends to break apart. Filled
with envy and obsession, Angier does his best to ruin Borden’s life. Borden
does his best to retaliate anyway he could, but eventually has to overcome a
struggle that a turn of events has lead him to.
I do not own rights to above image. (Left: Alfred Borden; Right: Robert Angier)
Robert Angier will be my main
subject for this psychological analysis. Angier lost something very important
to him early in the movie, and tries to blame Alfred Borden for it. Borden
refuses to be taken advantage of and pushes Angier to his limits. Borden has
arguably the best tricks and seems to be one step ahead of Angier at all times.
Borden’s main trick, The Transporting Man, was above and beyond anything Angier
has ever seen. In various efforts to try and replicate the trick in his own manner,
Borden still manages to ruin Angier’s shows by using hostile passive aggressive
methods. At this point, Angier is ready to do anything to get at Borden. One
day, Angier has lost all control and tries the impossible to get the better of
Borden. He travels to America to find out about a machine that can do the
impossible: transport – for real. Angier’s obsession of trying to be better
than Borden has cost him many things. It cost him a love interest, his career,
his fame, and certainly his mental stability.
Obsession can lead to very dangerous
things. It may ruin your life, someone else’s or both. In Angier’s case, it
ruined his own life. He is a miserable man that went from using competitive
motives to get better then Borden to hostile actions that costs people their
lives. At one point, Angier was talking to the man in charge of constructing
the teleportation machine. Tesla questioned if Angier was thinking of the
costs. Angier merely replied that money is not an issue. Tesla then warned him
again that this would cost Angier.
After a few more lines of dialogue, Angier, himself, tells Tesla that there is
no way to change his mind because of this potent obsession. Tesla reluctantly
follows though and builds the machine.
With an obsession, not everything good
comes from it. Angier had to make many sacrifices to let his new and improved
Transported Man be the best, yet. At this point in the film, Borden has given
up trying to make new tricks or to sabotage Angier. Borden notices that Angier
is falling to his own demise. Angier last show, he nabs at more attempt to get
at Borden for ruining his life. Instead of emerging from the Tesla device, he
stays gone. During this performance Borden (dressed up in a disguise) was
allowed to inspect the device prior to the trick. Wanting to see what happens
below stage, Borden forces himself behind the performance to see what is
happening to Angier. In this act, Angier falls through the trap door, which is
part of the trick, and into a tank of water that locks itself. Borden tries to
save Angier. Angier’s manager catches Borden under the stage looking at a
drowning Angier. Borden is then sent to court under a death sentence for
murdering Angier. Even while Angier is supposed to be dead, he still tries his
best to make Borden’s life suffer. Angier reemerges after a while under another
name and takes custody of Borden’s daughter all while Borden is still being
sentenced to death.
Even with an obsession to be better
than Borden at every trick, he still wants revenge for what Borden did earlier
in the movie. All while Angier is supposed to be dead, he is still ruining
Borden’s life by targeting him where he is most soft: his daughter. Borden,
however, still has the upper hand through many tricks of his own (that’s the
best part of the film, so I won’t mention them!) Overall, Angier ruined his own
life through desperate attempts of sabotage toward Borden. Obsession is a tricky
mechanic of the mind, and will most of the time make everything worse.
