The Prestige Page #4

with someone whose diary you stole?

Maybe I bought it.

And you're hoping to find

a great secret in there?

I've already found it.

That's why I'm here.

Tesla built one for another magician.

Why would you want the same thing?

Call it a professional rivalry.

Mr. Tesla has built unusual

machines for unusual people.

- But he would never talk about it.

- I understand discretion.

I just want the machine.

Finish your drink.

I want to show you something.

I think you'll have

a special appreciation for our work.

- I thought it was a secret.

- You're a magician.

Who's gonna believe you?

Not long now.

Our equipment requires

a great deal of current.

Tesla electrified the whole town

in exchange for using the

generators when we need them.

We do our tests when

the townspeople are asleep.

Mr. Tesla doesn't want

to scare anyone.

Where are the wires?

Exactly.

Where's the generator?

You saw it last week.

- That must be ten miles from here.

- Fifteen.

And I have to ride all of them

before I get to bed.

I'll send word for you

in a few days, Mr. Angier.

Magic. Real magic.

Now appearing, only here

at London's Royal Albert Hall,

one of the miracles of our age.

A technological marvel. You've never

seen anything like it in your lives.

Your eyes will not believe

what they're witnessing.

The miracle of Nikola Tesla,

ladies and gentlemen.

Free, clean power.

Like to know the future?

The man who's speaking right now

is going to change the world.

Come one, come all.

Immediate seating, no waiting.

Ladies and gentlemen,

objections have been raised...

They should be raised.

Does that look safe to you?

Part of Thomas Edison's smear campaign

against Mr. Tesla's

superior alternating current.

We have asked Mr. Tesla

to reconsider.

Which he will not!

But I've been told he refuses

to appear under any such restrictions.

This thing's gonna blow.

Ladies and gentlemen, please.

Hey.

Hello, Jess.

Have you had a nice day

with mommy? Huh?

Sarah.

- I love you.

- See, today it's true.

- Yeah.

- Hello.

I saw happiness.

Happiness that should have been mine.

But I was wrong.

His notebook reveals that

he never had the life that I envied.

The family life

that he craves one minute,

he rails against the next,

demanding freedom.

His mind... his mind is a divided one.

His soul is restless.

His wife and child, tormented

by his fickle and contradictory nature.

So, what do you think you'll call her?

I don't know.

Everybody needs a name, so, what's hers?

Maybe Sarah.

That's a lovely name.

That's a lovely name.

Well, you talk about what you want

to do for the rest of the day.

All right, go on, you talk with her.

Are they taking her away?

To the workhouse?

You keep talking.

Tell Owens I've reconsidered. Take it.

Go on, take it.

It's for the best.

Let me see.

I'm gonna learn

all the professor's secrets.

Only if I teach you how to read.

They're just stupid tricks, right?

Haven't helped you

get out of here, have they?

Or can't you undo real locks, professor?

Maybe I'm just biding my time.

Maybe one day I'll...

...open my hand, get your attention,

ask, "Are you watching closely?"

Maybe a magic whirl or two.

And then I'll be gone.

How'd you get so famous then?

Magic.

Oi! Borden, get back here!

Thank you.

Shut up!

Where's the bloody key?!

February 8, 1899.

Today, finally, a breakthrough.

Tesla's agreed to see me.

Perfectly safe.

So this is the Great Danton.

Mr. Alley has effused about your act

to me on any number of occasions.

Hold out other hand.

- What's conducting the electricity?

- Our bodies, Mr. Angier.

Quite capable of conducting

and, indeed, producing energy.

Have you eaten, Mr. Angier?

I need something impossible.

You're familiar with the phrase,

"Man's reach exceeds his grasp"?

Is a lie.

Man's grasp exceeds his nerve.

Society only tolerates

one change at a time.

First time I tried to change the world,

I was hailed as a visionary.

Second time...

...I was asked politely to retire.

So here I am, enjoying my retirement.

Nothing is impossible, Mr. Angier.

What you want is simply expensive.

If I were to build for you this machine,

you would be presenting it

merely as illusion?

Well, if people actually

believed the things I did on stage,

they wouldn't clap, they'd scream.

Think of sawing a woman in half.

Have you considered the cost of this?

Price is not an object.

Perhaps not, but have you

considered the cost?

I'm not sure I follow.

Go home, forget this thing.

I can recognize an obsession.

- No good will come of it.

- Hasn't good come of your obsessions?

At first, but I have

followed them too long.

I am their slave.

And one day,

they will choose to destroy me.

If you understand an obsession, then

you know you won't change my mind.

So be it.

Will you build it?

I've already begun

to build it, Mr. Angier.

I hope you enjoy the mountain air.

This will take some time.

Uh... I thought you'd gone.

I don't really have anywhere to go.

You've been sleeping here?

Cutter said it'd be all right till we

get another booking. What are you doing?

Uh... research.

Part of a magician's job

is to... watch his competition,

see what illusions...

You're going to do something

to that man, aren't you?

Cutter's hoping you let things lie.

He says if Borden thinks

things are even between you...

Even?

My wife for a couple of his fingers?

He has a family now

and he's performing again.

Borden is out there living

his life just as he intended,

as if nothing had happened

and look at me.

I'm alone and no theater will touch me.

Us.

You're going to need a better disguise.

I need a volunteer.

What happened?

Did you hurt him?

What happened, Robert?

You, sir. Just a rubber ball, yes?

Thank you.

Just a rubber ball? No.

Not normal. Not a normal rubber ball.

It's magic.

He had a new trick.

Was it good?

It was the greatest

magic trick I've ever seen.

Did they applaud

when you saw it?

It was too good. It was too simple.

The audience hardly had time to see it.

- He's a dreadful magician.

- A wonderful magician.

He's a dreadful showman.

He doesn't dress it up,

- how to sell it.

- How does he do it?

- He uses a double.

- No, it's too simple.

This is a complex illusion.

You say that because

you don't know the method.

It's a double that comes out.

It's the only way.

I've seen him perform it three times.

The prestige is the same man.

- No, it's not.

- The same man comes out of the cabinet.

It's the same man.

He wears padded gloves

to hide his damaged fingers,

but, if you look closely, you can tell.

He doesn't know how to sell it

to an audience, but I do.

Yeah, we could use it

as a climax to the show.

Yes.

The man stole my life,

I'm gonna steal his trick.

We got to find someone

who looks like you.

- He doesn't use a double.

- I don't know how Borden does it.

Either... You either wait for him

to retire and buy the secret,

or you listen to how I would do it.

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