Film
Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
- Home
- Box Office
- Listings
- Trailers
- Features
Bookmark this page- Edition:
The Illusionist (2006)
Director: Neil Burger
Synopsis
The story of the battle between a mysterious stage magician and a determined and principled policeman.
Movie review
From Time Out London
A good magician never explains his tricks, a lesson Neil Burger’s beautifully realised film gives the impression of respecting extremely well, wringing involving drama from its protagonist’s and its own mysterious sleights of hand. Turn-of-the-last-century Vienna, and stage magician Eisenheim (Edward Norton) is performing illusions so astonishing there are rumours he has supernatural powers. Unconvinced, Crown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell) assigns Chief Inspector Uhl (Paul Giamatti), to investigate his secrets. Unknown to all, though, the illusionist’s teenage sweetheart, Duchess Sophie von Teschen (Jessica Biel), is the Prince’s ‘intended’ and after she’s ordered to assist Eisenheim onstage, old feelings resurface to ignite a dangerous rivalry.Like Burger’s 2002 debut, ‘Interview with the Assassin’, ‘The Illusionist’ inhabits a world flickering between reality and illusion; as we follow Uhl’s investigations, we’re kept guessing about whether Eisenheim is the performer of merely unbelievably good tricks or genuine supernatural acts. In its fin de siècle setting, it also flickers between two ages: while the love triangle between lowly hero, fair duchess and evil prince looks back to ancient fairytales, its evocations of cinema’s infancy – sepia palette, iris shots and, in one scene, an early film projector – point to the media-saturated future which, as Eisenheim’s apparent raising of the dead begins to undermine the Prince’s authority, provokes interesting questions about the way illusions consolidate leaders’ powers today. With exquisite performances (Giamatti’s, in particular), it leaves you thrillingly hovering, happily uncommitted to any one interpretation – right until the end, that is, where Uhl seems to figure it all out in a clever-clever turnaround you’d thought the film was above. Or does he? It’s only his explanation, after all.
Author: Nick Funnell
Time Out London Issue 1906: February 28-March 7 2007
Cast & crew
Director: Neil Burger
Producer: Michael London, Brian Koppelman, David Levien, Bob Yari, Cathy Schulman
Cast: Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti, Jessica Biel, Rufus Sewell, Eddie Marsan full cast
Duration: 109 mins
Most popular on this site
Features
To the letter
Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.
Mind over matter
David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.
Fool's gold
Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.
We are the championed
Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."
A history of violence
Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.
True romantic
James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.
Playing in the dark
MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.
Junk bonds
Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.
What do you think?
Post your review now