Film: The Prestige

[liv]

Reasons for watching it: bugshaw gave us the DVD for a wedding present.

Circumstances of watching it: We were recuperating from intense Passover stuff and travelling, and it seemed like a good plan to curl up with a film. I don't actually own any DVDs that jack hasn't already seen, but this was one he was happy to rewatch.

Verdict: The Prestige is thought-provoking, dramatic and well acted.

I am glad I watched this in the company of someone who'd seen it before. jack was just perfect at explaining what's going on enough to prevent me from being completely bemused, but without spoiling the tension and mystery! It's an intelligent film, which is also exciting. As an inexperienced film watcher I would have got lost with the non-linear plot and the fact that the palette tends to be pretty dark with the two leads rather similar in appearance anyway, on top of the fact that the whole storyline is about disguises and doubles and such. Once I knew that most of the central part of the film is flashbacks within flashbacks, I got very much into the story.

The Prestige really does have everything going for it. The plot is pretty original, with lots of twists that are implausible if you think about it too hard, but it creates such a solid, believable world that it's very easy to suspend disbelief. I didn't at all guess the ending, though once I'd seen it everything about the film that had just seemed random and confusing slotted into place. The film never lies to you either, it would have been hypothetically possible to work out the real story from cues given in the film, but I was too busy being excited about what would happen next.

And I definitely cared about the characters, even though they are kind of horrible since the whole point of the film is them obsessively trying to sabotage eachother and take revenge. If I were going to be picky I could complain that basically all the female characters get fridged, and I don't think it really passes Bechdel, but I don't really care about that, it's a film about a rivalry between two men.

The ways it's clever just work much better than almost any other Hollywood film I've seen. It doesn't beat you over the head with how Clever it is, it doesn't have lots of characters giving boring monologues expounding their philosophical thoughts, it's just really interesting and thinky. But fast-moving, I felt completely absorbed in the action almost throughout. I'm really glad I own it on DVD because I'm definitely planning to watch it again.

Comments

[lovingboth]

I was not so keen on the film because the book is a personal favourite, but you can read it happily having seen the film.

[liv]

I'm not sure I knew there was a book. I should look out for that; it seemed a particularly cinematic story, but that probably says good things about the way it was directed.

[rmc28]

Thanks for the review. I didn't enjoy the book very much - I kept turning the pages but found the characters annoying and the end rather disappointing - but you make the film seem well worth a watch.

[liv]

The characters really are very annoying, but you've got some really high calibre actors there, which makes up for a lot. I didn't like the ending, exactly, but somehow it worked for me dramatically.