Finally saw "The Prestige" last week . . . [Confessions of a Liberal Puritan]

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I finally saw the movie "The Prestige" last week (because I wanted to use up a free movie pass before I forgot about it and because it's got Hugh Jackman, after all, and I'd just caught the end of "Empire of the Sun" on AMC that morning and had been reminded of what a cute kid Christian Bale was), and although I wouldn't say it was badly done, I can't say that I enjoyed it. At all.

In fact, I felt badly in need of some sort of psychic shower, afterwards, to remove the mental "ickyness" left by the fact that none of the major characters in this film (the men, anyways) turned out to have anything remotely close to a full soul of their own, judging by the casual cruelties and general lack of empathy they displayed toward everyone else.

*mentally shudders*

Call me a "sissy", but . . . all I can say about the characters played by Jackman and Bale and even Michael Caine and David Bowie was, in the end, "Ewwww...!"

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There are 13 comments on this entry. (Reply.)

David Bowie was in that movie? Where??

(I liked it, btw, but it certainly had a high ick factor!)

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David Bowie played TESLA, who was (I must admit) less morally and emotionally "icky" than the others, since he at least warned Jackman's character not to pursue his obsession and begged him to never use the machine he'd built for him. No surprise you didn't recognize him, with the very different accent he affected to play Tesla, not to mention the hair and make-up they did on him.

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I never would have guessed that was David Bowie in a bazillion years. Wow!

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I very much enjoyed the film but I agree about the lack of morality of the lead characters.

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It just seemed like such a waste! For me, the whole movie felt like watching a psychological car-wreck with multiple fatalities happening in slow motion, right before my eyes, and no possibility of doing anything to stop it or ameliorate the damage being done. Excrutiating! Well-done, but for me personally (with my tendency to think that I or someone else should jump in there and DO something!) it was agonizing at times.

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I'd had the advantage of reading the novel beforehand, so at least I was prepared.

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I enjoyed the film, but I can very much see your point. To me, it was watching the two main characters start off as relatively decent men only to have their obsessions spiral them into misery and depravity. To me, the saddest thing was that Bale's character could have been happy, if he hadn't been obsessed with keeping secrets even from those he loved.

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Your point is well taken. Perhaps I was just so disappointed in the choices they made at each step when they could've left bad enough alone and tried to make the rest of their lives worth something that I couldn't enjoy the film, in the end. As you say, Bale's character(s) could so easily have been happy if they hadn't insisted on trying to share one life and put the two women they loved through such hellish emotional ups and downs, all for the sake of what they considered success. Maybe I was most upset because I was really rooting for Jackman, but as soon as I realized (midway through the film, or earlier) that he must still be alive and was the rich nobleman offering to buy Bale's secrets, I found it harder and harder to sympathize with him. Somehow, knowing that his livelihood didn't depend on his stage career made it all the more sordid, that he should go so far for revenge and for the prestige of that final bow.

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Jackman's character had the farthest fall of all of them. The crucial point for him, to me, was when he blurted out that he didn't care about his wife. It wasn't even the revenge of a heart broken man (which I could understand), but the desperation to win. To beat his opponent. the fact of the matter is, if you aren't in the mood for a tragedy, or go in expecting something else, such a movie will be a disappointment. There are some movies, books, etc. that are perfectly wonderful things but they hit me wrong, bring up bad memories or leave me feeling dirty (like this one did to you) that I just can't enjoy. Nothing wrong with that.

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A note like that is the sort of thing I think every teacher dreams about. Bravo!

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Thanks!

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The movie was like a gigantic machine, and just as cold at heart. Fascinating to watch the wheels-within-wheels turn, but I certainly agree with your assessment.

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Cold at heart -- YES, that's exactly what I was feeling! Thanks for confirming that I wasn't crazy for getting creeped out by it (or at least that I'm not the only one!).

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Confessions of a Liberal Puritan

Finally saw "The Prestige" last week . . .

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David Bowie as Nicola Tesla

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October