The Prestige Page #2

- Any trick can be duplicated.

- Wrong.

If Mr. Borden has invented

his masterpiece,

he's prepared to do it.

Milton is a showman,

but Borden is right,

he won't get his hands dirty.

If you want to see what

it takes to make real magic,

go to the Tenley. There's a Chinaman

there and he really has what it takes.

- Chung Ling Soo.

- I can't afford that.

I know the bloke run the door.

You two go and see that show, and

whichever one of you can tell me

how he does the goldfish bowl

trick gets the prize.

- Which is?

- Ten minutes onstage

with my old friend, Mr. Ackerman.

- Really?

- Who's Ackerman?

The top theatrical agent in London.

- I saw you drop the knot again.

- I turned my wrists.

Some nights you

just don't get it, do you?

I mean, if that knot slips

and Julia's on the hoist,

she'll break her leg.

It's the wrong knot.

Like I said, the Langford

double will hold tighter.

The Langford double isn't

a wet knot. It's too dangerous.

If the rope swells, she can't slip it.

- I can slip a Langford underwater.

- We can practice.

- Borden, he said no.

- Oh, you know knots better than me?

Listen, no more mistakes.

All right. Yeah? Do you?

You want to take over?

- Just leave.

- I didn't think so.

Hey, Cutter, where's he from?

Where are you from? He shifts

props for Virgil at the hall.

- Worried he'll steal your tricks?

- Doesn't deal in methods.

- How do you know?

- Because I hired him

to find out how Virgil

does the orange trick.

- I don't trust him.

- He's a natural magician.

'Course you can't trust him.

I think he's all right.

- You think everyone's all right.

- Even you.

Watch your sightlines. If I can see you

kiss your wife's leg every night,

so can the blokes at the ends

of rows three and four!

You're wrong. It can't be.

- Look at the man.

- This is the trick.

This is the performance. Right here.

This is why no one

can detect his method.

Total devotion to his art.

A lot of self-sacrifice.

You know.

It's the only way to escape...

...all this, you know?

I can barely lift this thing

and it's not even filled with water.

Or fish, look.

I don't know. Hang on a second.

He must be strong as an ox.

He's been pretending

to be a cripple for years.

Any time he's in public,

any time he goes out. It's unthinkable.

Borden saw it at once.

But I couldn't fathom it.

Living my whole life

pretending to be someone else.

You are pretending.

I don't think changing a name compares.

Not your name. Who you are

and where you're from.

I promised I wouldn't embarrass

my family with my theatrical endeavors.

I thought of a name for you.

The Great Danton.

Do you like it? But it's sophisticated.

It's French.

Borden writes as if no one but

he understood the true nature of magic.

But what does he know of self-sacrifice?

You bloody fool.

- He killed it.

- It's OK.

- He killed it.

- He didn't.

Look, now he'll bring it back.

- No, he killed it.

- No, he didn't.

Look, see, he's all right. He's fine.

- Look at him.

- But where's his brother?

He's a sharp lad, your son.

Oh, he's my nephew.

Ah.

You're the lucky one today.

Are you watching closely?

Look closer.

Never show anyone.

They'll beg you

and flatter you for the secret,

but as soon as you give it up,

you'll be nothing to them.

You understand? Nothing.

The secret impresses no one.

The trick you use it for is everything.

Well, thank you for lunch, Mr. Borden.

You're welcome.

Alfred, it's Alfred.

Alfred.

So I could use a cup of tea.

I can't allow...

It's the landlord. It's not...

You think that's...

Is that enough to keep me out?

I think so.

So I'll see you again?

Milk and sugar?

What's in there?

Angier's machine.

You built this, Mr. Cutter?

Oh, no, sir. This wasn't

built by a magician.

This was built by a wizard.

A man who can actually do

what magicians pretend to do.

Tell me, Your Honor, what happens

with these things after the trial?

They've been sold to a Lord Caldlow.

An avid collector,

very interested in the case.

Yeah. Well, don't let him take this.

- Why ever not?

- It's too dangerous.

I'm sure beneath its bells and whistles

it's got a simple

and disappointing trick.

The most disappointing of all, sir.

It has no trick.

It's real.

This is the tank Angier drowned in?

Yes.

This is the...

...place where the performer's

hand reaches through

to the trick padlock.

A standard magical

apparatus for escapes?

Yeah, with one important difference.

This isn't a trick lock.

It's been switched for a real one.

What a way to kill someone.

They're magicians, Your Honor.

Showmen, men who live by dressing up

plain and sometimes brutal truths,

to amaze, to shock.

Even without an audience?

There was an audience.

You see, this water tank

was of particular significance

to these two men.

Particularly awful significance.

Which of you brave souls is

willing to bind this lovely young woman?

If you would tie her wrists,

bind her feet around the ankle.

- Are either of you gentlemen sailors?

- No.

I'm sure you can both tie a strong knot.

Robert!

No, no.

Julia. Julia!

I knew an old sailor once.

They told me he went overboard,

tangled in the sails.

They pulled him out,

but it took him five minutes to cough.

He said it was like...

...going home.

What do you want, Borden?

I'm sorry for your loss, Angier.

Which knot did you tie?

I keep asking myself that.

- And?

- And...

I'm sorry, I just don't know.

You don't know?

I'm sorry.

You don't know?

You don't know?!

- Alfred?

- Good news. We got our first booking.

I don't think we've had the pleasure.

- Mr. Fallon is my ingnieur.

- Where did you get all...?

- I had to borrow and... don't ask.

- He's a very enterprising soul

is... is Mr. Fallon. So...

- We can't afford to pay him.

- The money will come with the audience.

But what about until then?

What I earn, it's barely enough for us.

Don't worry about it. I'll share

half my food with him or something.

You're going to be

doing that with someone else.

No. You're...

Having a baby.

Oh, my God.

We should have told Fallon.

That is great.

Oh, come here.

Oh.

Alfred, what is this?

Oh, this is just the trick to work

Ackerman up at the end of my act.

Is it the masterpiece, the great trick?

No, no, no, the world is

not ready for that one yet.

This is just your run-of-the-mill,

daring, spectacular bullet catch.

- A bullet catch.

- Yeah, but it's safe.

I promise. Look.

- Shoot me.

- Shoot you?

Go on, shoot me.

- Right there.

- No, I can't.

No, no, not there.

Shoot me here. Don't...

How's that?

That's very good. Tell me how you do it.

No, I can't do that.

- Well, then you can't do it.

- I can't do it?

I'm sorry, but I can't

raise a child on my own.

You don't tell anybody that I told you.

- OK.

- Gunpowder.

Wadding.

Then the bullet.

Ramrod.

Hold out your hand.

The bullet is not even in the

gun when the charge is fired.

Once you know,

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