dir: Neil Burger
[img_assist|nid=838|title=Watch me make your career disappear|desc=|link=none|align=right|width=360|height=270]
For some reason, two different companies decided to release two period pieces about magicians at around the same time. Maybe it’s a coincidence, or maybe someone sniffs a rival production and decides to jump on the bandwagon, or get in first.
Whatever the reason, in the States at least, The Prestige and The Illusionist came out at about the same time. Similar setting, similar career for the protagonists, but they couldn’t have been more different in terms of plots, themes, atmosphere, intent and realisation.
Which is not a bad thing. For me at least, liking as I do the topic of magicians and prestigitators (it’s a real word), it should have been an embarrassment of riches to have such similarly themed films come out in such close proximity. Alas, the same way that parents have a favourite child no matter what they tell you, I’ve ended up liking one more than the other.
Of course, the difference here is going to be that I’m going to actually admit which one I thought was the better flick. I have to, because I can keep it in no longer.
The Illusionist is a pleasant, sepia-toned drama that wouldn’t be out of place on the Hallmark Channel; a cable channel notorious for its cheap production values and overwhelming aura of blandness. It is well scripted (for the most part) and acted, especially by Edward Norton and Paul Giamatti, but because of the nature of the story, ends up being as memorable as a toasted cheese sandwich.
I like toasted cheese sandwiches, don’t get me wrong. They’re lovely. And when you’re starving, they’re manna from heaven. Especially with the right amount of cheese. And that bit of cheese that seeps out and hardens on the hotplate, mmm, scrumptious.
But they’re just sandwiches; to be consumed and forgotten about minutes after the eating’s done. I could have used a sexual metaphor in its place, something about the banality of masturbation, or sex with someone you don’t know and won’t see again, but I thought I’d take the high road, especially since I’m a fucking parent now.
And as such, with all the maturity and seriousness that such circumstances entail, allow me to illuminate you as to the film’s strengths and weaknesses, which is, after all, what you pay me for.
Norton plays a mysterious magician called Eisenheim, who thrills the simpletons of Vienna with his on-stage theatrics and trickery. The success of his magic act, and the difficulty others have in piercing the veil of his illusions brings him to the attention of the Crown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell), and his loyal hound Inspector Uhl (Giamatti), who is something of a fan of the magician’s art.
The Crown Prince is engaged to the delectable Sophie (Jessica Biel), but it turns out that there is a connection between Sophie and Eisenheim that isn’t immediately apparent. Who knows what could possibly happen next?
I don’t want to spoil the flick for potential viewers, since it’s been in Australian cinemas all of four days, so I won’t go into the plot to any greater length, width or girth. All I can say is, there’s really not that much there.
Norton and Giamatti are good, Norton in an underplayed way, but there’s not really enough meat to the story to have it stand out. The romantic aspects of the story are pretty bland, so expect nothing from the pairing of such titans of the screen as Norton and Biel. Rufus Sewell plays virtually the same arsehole character in everything I’ve ever seen him in, but he does have some interesting facial hair here. And Giamatti, though he’s okay, has an excruciating final scene that tarnishes any of the goodwill the preceding hour and a half may have built up in me.
There’s some interesting stylistic choices, as in parts of the film are filmed in such a way as to recall the early days of cinema. And later on one of Eisenheim’s most popular routines seems to benefit from the power not of the supernatural, but of new technology, especially a magic that has delighted cinema goers for the last century or so.
For much of the story we have to believe that there’s a chance, however slender, that Eisenheim is the real deal. That during his travels he managed to somehow chance upon genuine magic along the way, which now allows him to be the scourge of polite society, especially as it relates to pissing off the violent Crown Prince.
As well, the Crown Prince believes himself to be a supremely intelligent and rational man, who is more than capable of figuring out the reality behind Eisenheim’s tricks. Of course, since he’s the flick’s villain, and because Eisenheim has to remain a mystery to us as well, he comes up short, and releases the hound in the form of Inspector Uhl onto him.
Uhl is a decent man who acknowledges his own corruptibility, but he doesn’t seem to want to monster Eisenheim into revealing his tricks, even though he still desperately wants the favour of the aristocracy. He, being an amateur magician himself, admires Eisenheim’s abilities and effortless charm. They are linked by the same thing that distances them: their humble origins, which leave them at the mercy of the Crown Prince and his mood swings.
There is a prize, in the form of Sophie, there is a game afoot, and its objective is to keep us entertained for at least an hour and a half as Eisenheim tries to get what he wants. If you didn’t figure out what was really going on half-way through the flick, then in a way I envy you, because it means the ending was something of a revelation to you. For me, it was a bit of a thumb-twiddler getting to the finish line since it was so bloody obvious. But that doesn’t mean it was bad by any estimation.
This is, after all, really more of a romance than anything else. It has none of the same drives and motivations as The Prestige, which I consider to be a far more meaningful, entertaining and amazing film, but shouldn’t be discarded entirely, since that would be a tall order to match those lofty heights.
It is what it is, and very much so, so it shouldn’t be thought the lesser for not aspiring to be more. It is a simple, pleasant love story with nice costumes and a bit of CGI, with some nice performances.
It’s something you could watch with your mum or even grandma without once feeling even remotely uncomfortable. That’s how bland and inoffensive it is. But there’s room in the cinematic pantheon for all.
6 times someone starring up at the sky as a superimposed montage explains the plot is a crappy way to wrap up a film out of 10
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“Everything you have seen here has been an illusion.” – Eisenheim, The Illusionist.
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