百年50部英文烧脑电影赏析:[48]The Prestige 致命魔术

A magician shows a girl a magic trick, causing a bird to vanish and then reappear in his hand. Magician Alfred Borden（Christian Bale）is sentenced for the murder of rival Robert Angier（Hugh Jackman）.Both were assistants for “Milton the Magician”（Ricky Jay）with ingénieur John Cutter（Michael Caine）. Angier's wife Julia（Piper Perabo）drowned performing a water cell act and Angier blames Borden, who professes not to remember if he had tied her with an inappropriate knot. The two become bitter competitors, disrupting each other's acts. Borden becomes “The Professor” with the enigmatic Bernard Fallon as his ingénieur while Angier becomes “The Great Danton” with the lovely Olivia Wenscombe（Scarlett Johansson）and Cutter assisting. The magic trick from the beginning of the movie is explained: the original bird is crushed and replaced with a double. Angier is incensed when Borden meets and marries Sarah（Rebecca Hall）and they have a daughter, Jess（Samantha Mahurin）. Angier sabotages Borden's bullet catch, costing Borden two fingers. Borden then ruins Angier's victimless bird cage act, maiming an audience member, killing the dove, and damaging Angier's reputation.
Borden soon surprises with “The Transported Man”, where he enters one cabinet and exits another. Angier and Cutter argue over its possibility, with Cutter insisting it is a double and Angier refusing to accept the possibility. Unable to understand Borden's trick, Angier hires a look-alike（but dissolute drunk）actor Root（also played by Jackman）to allow him to steal Borden's general idea. “The New Transported Man” is a success, but Angier resents hiding under the stage as Root gets the applause. He sends Olivia to discover Borden's secret but she resents the obsession and falls in love with Borden instead; she leaves Borden's encrypted diary of tricks to Angier as a parting gift. Borden already understood Angier's trick, but Olivia allows him to influence Root to ask for more pay; Borden then completely ruins the act by removing a pad below the stage's trap door, crippling Angier, and displaying a tied-up Root before the audience, turning the routine into an advertisement for his own show. Borden professes that both Fallon and him are “Tesla” and Angier pursues Nikola Tesla（David Bowie）to Colorado Springs alone after Cutter abandons him to his obsession. Angier pays Tesla to make a copy of a teleportation machine that he believed Borden used, providing the inventor with much-needed financing after Edison's smear campaign proves successful in drying up other sources. Angier finishes deciphering Borden's diary to discover it was a fraud supplied by Olivia, but an angry confrontation with Tesla reveals that his machine actually works, but creates duplicates. Thomas Edison's henchmen arrive to torch the lab and Tesla leaves, although not before completing Angier's machine and warning him to destroy it. Meanwhile, Borden's preoccupation with magic and affair with Olivia alienate Sarah, who hangs herself. Borden's cold response then leaves Olivia disaffected.
Angier returns to London, electrifying audiences with “The Real Transported Man”, vanishing within the machine and reappearing in the back of the hall. ln reality, the machine creates a duplicate; it is left unclear whether the original Angier is teleported or remains in the machine, but the one left in the machine falls through a trap door and plunges into a water cell, drowning. The tanks are disposed of by blind stage hands every night. Borden witnesses Angier drown while snooping backstage and tries to save him but is caught and convicted of murder, the opening of the film. In prison, Borden is visited by the agent of a Lord Caldlow, who offers to care for Jess in exchange for Borden's secrets. Borden is given Angier's diary and finds his conviction has been orchestrated, then discovers that Lord Caldlow is the yet-living Angier when the lord arrives to collect the secrets. Borden attempts to give them but Caldlow rips them to pieces without reading them, before leaving with Jess. Borden is hanged, after commanding Fallon to live for them both.
Cutter learns that Caldlow has bought all of Angier's tricks, including the machine, and visits Caldlow's estate to plead for its destruction. He recognises Angier, who admits he has always been Lord Caldlow but pretended to be the American Robert Angier to spare his family the embarrassment of his theatrical career. Cutter realises Borden's death was planned but, unable to have Caldlow come forward, accompanies him to store Tesla's machine beneath his theatre among the tanks previously used for the duplicates. On his way out, Cutter recognises and nods to Fallon as Fallon enters and shoots Caldlow. Fallon's disguise removed, he tells the dying Caldlow that he and Borden were identical twins who shared their lives on stage and off. He removed the ends of his own fingers to duplicate Borden's injury and the two shared lovers to maintain the illusion of being a single man. Fallon reveals they each loved one woman — Borden loved their late wife Sarah and died, while Fallon loved their mistress Olivia and survived. Caldlow reveals his machine's own trick, repeatedly recreating Julia's suffering in order to bask in the admiration of the crowd. Borden leaves him to die as a fire consumes the building. The first scene of the film replays, with the magician（now known to be Cutter）vanishing（killing）the bird for the delight of the little girl（Jess）. This time, the scene continues and Fallon/ Borden appears to reclaim his daughter.
魔术师给小女孩表演了一个魔术，让一只小鸟消失，然后又出现在魔术师的手里。魔术师阿尔弗雷德·波登（克里斯蒂安·贝尔饰）因谋杀他的竞争者罗伯特·安吉尔（休·杰克曼饰）被判刑。两人都是道具师约翰逊·卡特（迈克尔·凯恩饰）和“米尔顿魔术师”（雷基·杰伊饰）的助手。安吉尔的妻子朱莉娅（派珀·佩拉博饰）在表演水箱逃生时溺亡。安吉尔责怪波登，波登声称不记得当时是否给朱莉亚系了不合适的绳结。两人开始变成相互仇恨的竞争者，破坏彼此的魔术表演。波登成为“教授”，以神秘的伯纳德·法隆作为他的道具师，而安吉尔成为“伟大的丹东”，以可爱的奥利维亚·温斯康贝（斯嘉丽·约翰逊饰）和卡特为助手。电影的开始，就解密了魔术：原来的鸟被杀死，用一摸一样的另一只鸟作为替代。波登和萨拉（丽贝卡·豪尔饰）相遇、结婚，并有了女儿杰西（萨曼莎·马胡林饰），安吉尔为此感到愤怒。安吉尔破坏波登的接子弹魔术，使波登付出了失去两根手指的代价。然后，波登毁坏了安吉尔“毫发无损的鸟笼”的魔术，伤害了一个观众，杀死鸽子，损坏安吉尔的名誉。
不久，波登表演的“遁形术”让人啧啧称奇，那是一种进入一个柜子，从另一个柜子出来的魔术。安吉尔和卡特争论它的可能性，卡特坚持认为这是两个人合作，安吉尔拒绝接受这个可能。不能洞穿波登的戏法，安吉尔雇佣了一个酷似演员，实际是堕落酒鬼的鲁特（也由杰克曼出演），让他去偷波登的大概想法。“新遁形术”获得成功，但是安吉尔讨厌藏在舞台下，让鲁特得到掌声。他派奥利维亚去发现波登的秘密，但是她憎恶这种做法，反而爱上了波登。她把波登关于魔术的加密日记留给了安吉尔，作为分手的礼物。波登已经明白了安吉尔的魔术，但是奥利维亚让他影响鲁特，索要更多的报酬；然后波登彻底地破坏了表演，通过移除舞台陷阱门下面的护垫，残害安吉尔，并且在观众面前展现捆绑的鲁特，把整个表演变成自己表演的广告。波登自称法隆和他都是“特斯拉”，卡特因困扰放弃之后，安吉尔独自追踪尼古拉·特斯拉（大卫·鲍伊饰）到科罗拉多斯普林斯。在爱迪生断绝其资金来源的诽谤运动成功之后，安吉尔支付特斯拉资金，让他造一个他认为波登曾使用过的“瞬间转移机器”的复制品。安吉尔完成了波登日记的解密工作，发现奥利维亚给他提供的是假的，但是和特斯拉进行一场愤怒的争执之后，安吉尔发现他的机器其实好用，只是生产的是复制品。托马斯·爱迪生的仆人来到这里，烧了实验室，特斯拉离开了，虽然在此之前，他已经完成了安吉尔的机器，并且警告他毁掉它。同时，由于波登关注魔术，且与奥利维亚暧昧，疏远了萨拉，萨拉上吊自杀了。波登对待这件事很冷淡，然后，不满地离开了奥利维亚。

安吉尔回到了伦敦，“真正的遁形”使观众震惊，在机器中消失，在大厅的后面重新出现。实际上，机器创造了一个复制品；原本的安吉尔是被转移，还是仍在机器中，目前仍不清楚。但是留在机器中的一个，从陷阱门中掉下去，陷入了一个水箱，溺亡了。每天晚上，水箱会被幕后黑手清理。当波登窥探后台时，见证了安吉尔的溺亡，他尝试去救他，但因谋杀获罪逮捕，就像电影的开场那样。在狱中，贵族卡尔德罗的代理人来探访波登，他提供对杰西的照顾，来交换波登的秘密，并给了他安吉尔的日记本。波登发现他的犯罪是精心策划的，贵族来搜集秘密时，波登才发现，贵族卡尔德罗实际上是还活着的安吉尔。在离开杰西之前，波登试图给他们，但是卡尔德罗没有看，直接撕成碎片。确认法隆会为他们两个活着之后，波登吊死了。
卡特得知卡尔德罗买了安吉尔所有的魔术，包括机器。他来到卡尔德罗的庄园，请求他将机器销毁。他认出了安吉尔。安吉尔承认他一直是贵族卡尔德罗，为了不让自己的剧场事业为家族蒙羞，他假装成了美国人罗伯特·安吉尔。卡特意识到波登的死亡是设计好的，但是他却不能让卡尔德罗自己承认，跟随他到他的剧场下，在箱子中，发现之前特斯拉用来复制的机器。出门时，法隆破门而人，并枪杀了卡尔德罗，卡特认出他并向他点头。法隆去掉伪装，告诉将要死去的卡尔德罗，他和波登是共享舞台和生活的同卵双胞胎兄弟。为复制波登的伤，他砍掉了自己的两根手指，共享爱人来维持一个人的假象。法隆指出，他们两人都各自爱一个女人——波登爱他的亡妻萨拉，已经去世；而法隆爱他们的情妇奥利维亚，还活着。卡尔德罗说出了他的机器的秘密，重复地重现朱莉娅的遭遇，以博取大众的钦佩。波登一把火烧了这栋建筑，让他在里面死去。电影开始的场景重现，一个魔术师（现在知道是卡特）把小鸟变消失（实际上是杀死）来让小女儿（杰西）高兴。这时候，场景继续，法隆/波登出现，要回他的女儿。

inappropriate［ˌinə'prəupriət］adj. 不适当的；不相称的
enigmatic［ˌenig'mætik］adj. 神秘的；高深莫测的；谜一般的
applause［ə'plɔ:z］n. 欢呼；喝彩；鼓掌欢迎
campaign［kæm'pein］n. 运动；活动；战役
preoccupation［pri:ˌɔkju'pei∫ən］n. 全神贯注；当务之急；关注的事物；成见
electrify［i'lektrifai］vt. 使电气化；使充电；使触电；使激动
conviction［kən'vik∫ən］n. 定罪；确信；［法］证明有罪
embarrassment［im'bærəsmənt］n. 窘迫；难堪；使人为难的人或事物；拮据
重点掌握
■ ...Edison's smear campaign proves successful in drying up other sources.
句中的drying up是dry up的分词形式，可以表示“使……干枯、干涸”，还可以表示“（讲话时）语塞”，也可以像文中一样表示“（供应）停止”，比如：The main source of income, tourism, is expected to dry up completely this summer. 作为主要收入来源的旅游业预计将在今年夏天彻底枯竭。此外，我们需要了解的是，drying up本身可以是一个名词词组，在美国英语中表示“（洗完后）擦干碗碟”。

Christian Bale Interviewed by www.femalefirst.co.uk
Nolan's films have that great thematic through-line of perception and identity. Is that one of the many reasons why you enjoy working with him as a storyteller?
Well, just as a storyteller, he finds so many interesting angles to things. I don't know if you've read the book of The Prestige, but this is considerably different. Personally, I just love what he's done with it. I love how he saw his material, but here's how to really create a twist in it and the turns and, to me, more intrigue in it He's such a sharp director. He really has thought every little thing through. I really love that when you're working with somebody like that, because I tend to be the same. I analyze it and try to pick apart the problems and, well, maybe on the tenth viewing, someone's going to notice this and is that a problem here? And he's really great at that, but has this incredible ability, which I don't have, to be able to see things filmically, to understand that certain things don't actually matter. Logically and in life, they can matter; it is very true and very surprising at times. In movies, there are times when it just doesn't matter. It doesn't come up at all. But, you know, this whole thing is obviously to do with perception and the necessity of mystery, especially with my character, the necessity of mystery, not only for his livelihood, but also for his life itself.
Were you into little magic tricks when you were a kid?
No more than anybody else. I bought a little magic box, was excited about it for a night, and then, that was it. Done. I never knew where it went to. What I did have, though: one of my grandfathers was a member of the magic circle in London. And I never got to see him perform. But, he would, on occasion, when I was small, drag down a chest from the attic, which had a lot of his old props and tricks in it, most of which were very aged by that time and not really working properly. But he would show me how he did certain things. So, it was nice to kind of rekindle memories of that in doing The Prestige. 诺兰的电影总是有一条很好的可感知的且一致的贯穿影片的主线。作为故事的讲述人那是为什么你喜欢和他一起工作的众多原因之一吗？
嗯，作为故事的讲述人，他发现了事物的很多有趣的角度。我不知道你是否读过《致命魔术》这本书，但这大有不同。我个人很喜欢他对原著的改编。我喜欢他看待这些素材的方式，但影片是关于如何真正创造出一个曲折的故事，对我，则是如何变化出更多的阴谋。他是如此锐利的导演。他真的认真思考过每一件事。我真的喜欢和那样的人一起工作，因为我也想做同样的事，我进行分析，试图破解问题，嗯，也许是第十次查看，才会有人注意到这个，这里是不是有个问题？他在这方面真的很棒，有着我没有的令人难以置信的能力，能电影化看事情，理解某些不真实的事物。逻辑上和生活中，它们可以很重要；有时真的很真实也很令人吃惊。在电影里，有些时候它不重要。它根本不出现。但是，你知道，整件事显然与感知和神秘的必然性有关，尤其是我的角色，神秘的必要性，不仅是为了他的生活，也是为了他本身的生命。
当你还是个孩子时，玩过小魔术吗？
不比别人多。我买了一个神奇的小盒子，兴奋了一个晚上，然后，就这样了。仅此而已。后来我就再也不知道它在哪里。但我的确拥有的是我的祖父是伦敦魔术圈的一员，可我从来没有看到过他的表演。但是，他也偶尔表演，当我还很小时，他从阁楼上拖下一个箱子，里面有他的很多旧道具和把戏，大多数都很有些年头，不能正常工作。但他会向我演示，他如何做某些事情。所以，很高兴在拍《致命魔术》的时候，重燃记忆。

为了拍摄这部电影，诺兰特意为克里斯蒂安·贝尔和休·杰克曼请来了专业的魔术师，他自己更是查阅了很多魔术大师的相关资料，可以说观众们在银幕上看到电影中每一个关于魔术表演的场景都跟诺兰的精心准备和不懈努力有着莫大的关系。而在片中，魔术是除了两个男主角之外最大的亮点。
该片是克里斯蒂安·贝尔同诺兰导演继《蝙蝠侠前传》之后的二度合作了，所以他们之间合作起来也更加有默契。