The Illusionist is a
2006 period drama
written and directed by
Neil Burger and
starring
Edward Norton,
Jessica Biel, and
Paul
Giamatti.
Based loosely on Steven Millhauser's story "Eisenheim the
Illusionist", The Illusionist tells the story of Eisenheim
(Norton), a magician in turn-of-the-20th-century Vienna
.
The film premiered at the
2006 Sundance Film Festival,
opened the 2006
Seattle International Film
Festival, and was distributed in limited release to theaters on
August 18, 2006, eventually expanding nationwide on September
1.
Synopsis
The film begins
in medias res as Chief
Inspector Walter Uhl (
Giamatti)
recounts the story of Eisenheim for Crown Prince Leopold, following
Uhl's visit to the theatre to arrest Eisenheim during what appears
to be
necromancy passed off as a magic
show.
Eisenheim was born the son of a cabinetmaker in
Austria-Hungary. One day when he was a
teenager, Eisenheim (played as a young man by
Aaron Johnson) meets a traveling
magician along a road. The magician performs several tricks for him
and then, according to various accounts, both the magician and the
tree he was sitting under vanish. Eisenheim becomes obsessed with
magic tricks after this.
He also falls in love with Sophie, the
Duchess von Teschen (
Biel, played as a young lady by
Eleanor Tomlinson), a
noblewoman well above his social class;
her parents have hired Eisenheim's father as a cabinetmaker. Young
Eisenheim makes Young Sophie a unique
marquetry puzzle locket,
which if twisted correctly reveals a small, hidden photograph of
Eisenheim. Although the two are forbidden to see each other, they
meet in a secret hideout chamber in the woods, where Eisenheim
tells of his plans to go to China to learn more magic and Sophie
promises to go with him. On the day that they are going to leave,
however, the police come looking for Sophie. The two hide in the
secret room and Sophie begs Eisenheim to make them both disappear.
He is unable to fulfill this request and the two are separated.
This event has major significance on their future lives and
Eisenheim learns a great lesson from it.
Eisenheim leaves his village to travel the world, perfecting his
magic. He returns 15 years later as a master illusionist. He meets
Sophie at one of his performances, when she is volunteered by the
ruthless Crown Prince Leopold as a reluctant participant in a
trick. He soon learns that Sophie is expected to marry the Crown
Prince, who purportedly has a history of abuse towards women.
Eisenheim and Sophie, having recognized each other, meet privately,
whereupon it is revealed that Sophie still has the locket he made
for her years ago.
After humiliating the Crown Prince during a
private show, Eisenheim finds his hit performance shut out of
Vienna. When Sophie comes to offer him help, the
two consummate their relationship and realize that they are still
in love. They plan to flee the Empire together; but first, Sophie
points out, something must be done to stop Leopold, who, she
reveals, is planning a
coup d'etat to
usurp the Crown of Austria from his aging father, the Emperor
Franz Joseph I, while
using his engagement to her to win the Hungarian half of the Empire
as well. She also knows that the Crown Prince will view her as
disposable if she leaves him for another man, and that he will have
both her and Eisenheim followed and killed in order to protect his
ego.
Leopold finds out from Uhl, who was following the couple, that
Sophie has met with Eisenheim. While drunk, Leopold confronts
Sophie and accuses her of being a
whore. She tells him that she will not marry
him or have anything to do with his plan. When she attempts to
leave, he appears to murder her in the stables with a sword cut
across her neck. Unfortunately, Leopold's royal status makes any
accusations against him unthinkable, despite an existing belief
among the people that Leopold has murdered a woman in the past.
As
Eisenheim plunges into despair and the citizens of Vienna begin to
suspect Leopold of Sophie's murder, Uhl observes Eisenheim's
actions more closely on behalf of Leopold.
Wracked with grief, Eisenheim prepares a new kind of magic show,
using mysterious equipment and Chinese
stagehands. Eisenheim purchases a run-down theater
and opens a new performance. During his show, Eisenheim apparently
summons spirits, leading many to believe
that he possesses supernatural powers.
Leopold decides to attend one of Eisenheim's shows in disguise.
During this show, Eisenheim summons the spirit of Sophie who says
someone in the theater murdered her, panicking Leopold. Uhl pleads
with Eisenheim to stop, but Eisenheim refuses. Finally, Leopold
orders Eisenheim's arrest, but when Uhl tries to arrest him during
a live show, Eisenheim's body fades and disappears like his
summoned spirits.
Inspector Uhl first searches for Eisenheim at his house. There he
finds a folio labeled "Orange Tree," the name of
one of
Eisenheim's illusions which had intrigued Uhl. Thinking he will
find the solution to one of the magician's most famous tricks, he
opens it to find empty pages except for a scrap of parchment
showing how to open the locket Eisenheim had given Sophie when they
were young.
At this point, we return to the first scene of the movie. Uhl
reveals to Leopold that he has found evidence which links the Crown
Prince to Sophie's murder: a jewel from the prince's sword and
Sophie's locket that Eisenheim gave her when they were children.
After ordering, then begging Uhl to keep silent, Leopold discovers
that Uhl has already informed the Emperor and the General Staff of
Leopold's conspiracy to usurp the
Austro-Hungarian throne. As the Army
arrives at his Palace to arrest him, Leopold shoots himself in
despair after angrily justifying his plans to overthrow his father,
saying that there were "a thousand different voices screaming to be
heard", and that nothing would get done.
In the next scene, Uhl is shown leaving the Imperial Palace. After
he takes a few steps, a boy runs up to hand him a folio labeled
"Orange Tree". This time, the "Orange Tree" folio is filled with
plans detailing a geared mechanism to make the tree "grow". Uhl
demands to know where the child obtained the folio; the child
reveals that Eisenheim had given it to him. Uhl then reaches down
into his pocket, to discover the Duchess' locket, missing. He
realises with a jolt that he has been pick-pocketed by a disguised
Eisenheim, and gives chase following him to the train station.
After the chase, a
montage shows Uhl putting
the pieces together and discovering how Eisenheim faked Sophie's
death and framed Leopold. Eisenheim is then seen walking up to a
house in the country where Sophie is waiting for him.
Cast
Production
Magic consultancy and technical advice during the production was
supplied by
Ricky Jay,
James Freedman,
Michael Weber and
Scott Penrose. Director
Neil Burger wrote, "Starting in pre-production,
James became a major collaborator; brainstorming, designing and
refining everything from small sleight of hand tricks to major
narrative set pieces. He worked with
Edward Norton preparing him for his stage
performances and acted as a hand double in various scenes. His
contribution was enormous."
Aaron
Johnson, who plays the teenage Eduard in the beginning of the
film, also learned how to do the ball trick seen in those
scenes.
The original story on which the movie is based does not include the
artifice of the protagonist framing the Duke for murder. The
protagonist gets away with a serious crime and yet is made to seem
justified in this film.
Although the film is set in Austria, it was filmed mostly in the
Czech Republic.
The city of Vienna is
represented in the movie by those of Tábor
and Prague
, while the
scenes set in Eisenheim's childhood village were shot in Český
Krumlov
. The Crown Prince's castle is actually the
historical fortress of Konopiště
(located near Benešov
), formerly
the home of Archduke
Franz Ferdinand of Austria. The front gates of
Leopold's Vienna palace were actually the front gates of Prague Castle
. All other shots were at Barrandov
Studios
in Prague.
Reception
As of June 29, 2008 the film has earned worldwide box office
receipts of $87,892,388, including $39,868,642 in the United
States, beating its $17 million budget. Since it has been released
on DVD, it has earned another $35.99 millionin rental revenue (as
of May 6, 2007).
The Illusionist received mostly positive reviews.
Rotten Tomatoes classified it as 75%
"certified fresh" with 173 reviews (as of September 17, 2008).
Jonathan Rosenbaum's review in
The Chicago Reader praised Paul Giamatti's performance of
"a character who feels sympathy for the magician but owes
allegiance to Leopold and is therefore divided and compromised ...
Giamatti’s performance is subtle, expressive, and richly nuanced."
Stephen Holden, in his review for
The New York Times, praised Edward
Norton's role, which, according to him, "perfectly fits his
disturbing inscrutability".
Variety wrote that
Jessica Biel "is entirely stunning enough to
fight to the death over."
Director of Photography Dick Pope earned a nomination for the
Academy Award for
Best Cinematography.
Historical link
Eisenheim's portrait of the Emperor (the Crown Prince's father)
seen in the palace performance scene closely relates with that of
Franz Joseph I of Austria.
The character Leopold closely resembles
Crown Prince Rudolph, who
committed suicide after killing his mistress.
This incident caused an international
scandal and has attracted much subsequent conjecture.
After Rudolph's death, Franz Joseph's nephew became Crown Prince
Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
Franz
Ferdinand was later assassinated on 28 June 1914
, triggering the First
World War.
See also
References
- [1]
- Writer director Neil Burger mentions this in the DVD
commentary.
- The Illusionist (2006)
- The Illusionist (2006) - DVD / Home Video
Rentals
- The Illusionist - Movie Reviews, Trailers, Pictures -
Rotten Tomatoes
- Chicago Reader: Movie Reviews
- The Illusionist - Movie - Review - New York
Times
- The Illusionist Review - Film Reviews-Sundance
2006, Entertainment - Variety
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