The Prestige Page #8

I need your help, John.

It's my last show. A limited engagement.

Your last show?

A wise man once told me obsession

was a young man's game.

I'm almost done. There's one thing left.

The Real Transported Man.

You want to design a show around it?

I don't want you backstage

I need you in front managing.

Call in any favors

or connections you have left

to get us the right booking.

What sort of booking you after?

The sort that Borden can't ignore.

Oh, what an honor it is

to see you again, sir.

You told me you only wanted to show me

one trick that'd pique my interest.

- It's a very clever trick.

- Pleased to meet you, Mr. Ackerman.

Likewise, I'm sure.

Let's get on, shall we?

Turn it on, gentlemen.

Very pretty.

That's it, Cutter? He simply disappears?

That's not a trick. He has to come back.

- There has to be a...

- A prestige?

Exactly.

Pardon me.

It's very rare to see...

...real magic.

It's been many years since...

Are you interested in helping us?

Yes... but you'll have

to dress it up a little.

Disguise it.

Give them enough reason to doubt it.

You haven't spoken

about her, Freddie, not once.

Why would I talk about her to you, hm?

Because she was a part of

your life and now she's gone.

You know, the day before she killed

herself she said she wanted to meet me.

That she had something

to tell me about you.

I was such a coward,

I couldn't bring myself to face her.

But...

...what would she have said?

You want to know the truth about me?

The truth is that...

...I never loved Sarah.

I never loved her.

You married her,

you had a child with her.

Yes. Part of me. Part of me did, but...

...the other part didn't.

The part that found you,

the part that's sitting here right now.

I love you. No, Olivia, I love you.

That's the truth.

That is the truth that matters.

You could be in some other restaurant

with some other woman right now,

talking about me that way.

- No.

- Yes.

It's inhuman to be so cold.

He's back.

After two years, he's got a new trick.

They're saying it's

the best London's ever seen.

You should see the look

on your face, Professor.

You should go to him.

You two deserve each other.

But I'm afraid I'm booked. The Moscow

Ballet plays through next year.

Then get rid of them. There will be

Five performances a week, no matinees.

That's what you'll

charge for each ticket. Good day.

Ladies and gentlemen, my first trick of

the evening involves considerable risk.

Anyone in the audience

who would be irrevocably

damaged by seeing a man drown

should leave now.

When I tell you the lady

who taught me this illusion

actually died performing it,

you'll understand the seriousness

of the dangers involved.

Let's begin.

In my travels, I have seen the future.

And it is a strange future, indeed.

The world, ladies and gentlemen,

is on the brink of new

and terrifying possibilities.

What you're about to witness

is not magic.

It's purely science.

I'd like to invite you

to come up on stage now

so that you can examine

the machine for yourselves.

Man's reach

exceeds his imagination.

Bravo!

One hundred performances. Why?

Does his method dictate that?

Is it a publicity move? What is it?

He's a no-talent magician,

and they call him

the bloody best in England. Why?

Fifty yards in a second! In a second!

And all that we know

is he uses a trap door.

Brilliant! What is going on

under that stage? Huh?!

Why can't you out-think him?

They do this every night,

after each performance. Yeah?

Huh.

We're done.

All right?

Let him have his trick.

I don't need his secret.

So...

...don't go back there,

you leave him alone.

Both of us... just leave him alone.

We're done.

I told you, John.

I don't want you backstage on this one.

I would like to

invite you onstage now

so that you can examine

the machine for yourselves.

- Hey, where do you think...?

- I'm part of the bloody act, you fool.

Who was that?

Hey! Where's the bloody key?!

Where's the bloody key?!

Where's the bloody key?!

He's bloody drowning!

Hold on!

What have you done?

Alfred Borden, you have been found

guilty of the murder of Robert Angier.

You will be hanged

by the neck until dead.

May the Lord have mercy on your soul.

Mr. Cutter?

Owens.

Oh, thank you for coming, Mr. Owens.

It has fallen to me to dispose

of Mr. Angier's equipment.

But I notice from this manifest

that Lord Caldlow has purchased

the bulk of the items.

Mr. Cutter, if you need to know

where to deliver these items...

No, it's just there is

one particular item,

this item, in fact,

- I would like to...

- You would like to...

...buy.

- Buy yourself?

- Yeah, I suppose so.

- This is the machine?

- Yes.

Well, I'm afraid

Lord Caldlow was adamant

about purchasing this particular item.

Do you think I could

talk to Lord Caldlow in person?

Out of the question, I'm afraid.

Of course,

I suppose if, in the course

of your delivery arrangements,

your paths were to cross,

I can't stop you speaking your mind.

Thank you.

- Still here, Borden?

- For now.

You got a visitor. Lord Caldlow.

With a little girl.

Jess?

Hello, my love.

How are you? I've missed you so much.

Fallon's missed you too. We both have.

Daddy, can I come in there?

Not right now. Not right now, darling.

No, but everything

is gonna be all right.

You must be Lord Caldlow?

Caldlow. Yes, I am. I always have been.

They flatter you with all those chains.

Don't they know you can't escape

without your rubber ball?

I pulled you out... out of that tank.

All I wanted to do was prove

that I was a better magician.

But you couldn't leave me alone.

I don't know what you've done.

But you're not afraid to get

your hands dirty anymore, are you?

No, not anymore. And I win.

No one cares about the man

in the box, the man who disappears.

You win?

This ain't a bloody competition

anymore. This is my little girl's life.

And don't you dare

put her in the middle of this.

Oh, I know how hard it is

to have someone so special

taken away from you, don't I, Borden?

And you can't take it

with you, now, can you?

Oh, she'll be looked after.

Goodbye, Professor. Come on, darling.

No, no, no, no, stop, my darling.

Look, here.

That's what you're after.

That's what this is about.

Take it.

- Your secret?

- Yeah.

You always were the better magician.

We both know that.

Whatever your secret was,

you have to agree,

mine is better.

Don't do this. Don't do this,

Angier. Jess, Jess!

Jess, I'm gonna take you

home soon. I promise.

- For God's sake.

- I promise. Look!

I promise. I love you, Jess.

I love you.

- Come on.

- I love you.

I love you, Jess.

Angier! Angier!

What, do you think

this place can hold me?

Angier! They're gonna bloody hang me!

And you can put a stop to this now!

Listen! Listen! That man...

Listen, that man is

the one I'm in for killing!

Listen! If he's alive, I'm not guilty!

- I'm not guilty!

- I don't care!

- Get hold of him.

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