‘Are you watching closely?’ The introductory montage of Christopher Nolan’s Period Drama, ‘The Prestige’ instantly plunges you into the entertainment and showmanship of the world of magic, and begins the key comparison between it and the world of cinema. The excellent production design is essential in realising this world in which the characters exist. Nolan and cinematographer Wally Pfister use the technique of keeping the physical sets out of our immediate focus; I can’t remember a single shot in which the focus is a street or building. This prevents us from noticing the edges of sets, or imperfections in them, instead, the viewer almost subconsciously fills in the world around the characters, adding to the sense of personal wonder; the world is literally something out of your own imagination. This technique was drawn from the earlier works of Ridley Scott, particularly Blade Runner, and Nolan and Co perhaps decided to use it after Batman Begins, in which some of the wide-angle shots of the Gotham Slums (which were actually miniature models) looked, in my opinion, too fantastical. Although this is very debatable given Nolan’s attempt to merge the previously typically fantastical superhero genre with a more realistic world; he definitely wanted to keep some fantastical elements in the Film, for instance, the character of Scarecrow. Though perhaps the main reason for this was to please the DC fan-base, ensuring a smoother entry into the genre, because, as soon as he succeeded in entering, he definitely moved more towards his ideal vision of a ‘grounded’ superhero film in his next work of the trilogy, ‘The Dark Knight.’ Now, back to the Prestige… When the ‘prestigious’ secret to the bird trick is revealed our admiration for the world of magic is somewhat destroyed, as we are exposed to the brutal, cruel work which goes on behind the scenes to maintain its facade of wonder. Sadly, Nolan leaves us to conclude that magic is not real -or at least, not yet? This moment also serves to inform us that our two main characters are willing to go to any extremes in order to serve the craft, thus delivering one of the key philosophical questions of the movie: should we despise them for their cruel actions, or respect them for having the passion to sacrifice their virtues for their craft. This merging of antagonistic and protagonistic traits within single characters can be found in every Nolan film, from the character of Leonard to more recently the character of Sator. The previously referenced comparison between these magicians and film directors, combined with these ideas of wild, lethal determination gives this film a similarity to Kubrick’s ‘The Shining’. Both Nolan and Kubrick express the likely personally experienced conflicts caused by unbreakable addiction to one’s craft, and whilst we sympathise more with the character of Angier’s motives, ‘I do it for the smiles on their faces,’ than we do with Jack Torrance’s, both characters still lead us to the idea that perhaps there is only one true end to life-consuming addiction: death. Mesmerisingly, Nolan structurally embeds the main narrative of the film into a short scene lasting hardly more than a minute, and naturally, after delivering us the pledge and the turn, the film is wrapped up with its very own prestige.

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