The Prestige Rewatch and Questions [Spoilers]

Metal Gear Solid 2 Demo

So I rewatched The Prestige last night for the third time and this time I was really looking for the twists and the details that led up to the conclusion. There were some things I was still confused about though and I was hoping to clear up

-In the early scene with Borden dating Sara, after their first date he leaves her at her door and then appears in her apartment offering tea. Did they actually set it up so Borden leaves and "Fallon" (or vice versa) is in the apartment?

-Is there a comprehensive breakdown of what scenes are Borden and which are Fallon somewhere online? Are we supposed to know in any way besides the affection/hate they show for the woman they're currently in company with? The only two scenes I caught that had "Fallon" in them were the scenes at the dinner after the show where he argues with Sara and then later in the house where they yell at each other.

-Cutter at the end was working with Borden to reunite him with his daughter? For how long, when did that start? I must have missed it

-Algier talks about worrying whether he'll be in the man in the box or the prestige, but wouldn't he be able to control that? Or isn't he technically the one in the box each time, as he has to be "cloned" for the act to work? Essentially, I originally understood it as the clone walks into the machine at the start of the act and then is dropped into the box, but how does he convince the clone to do this? Is it the original that comes out at the prestige? Aggh!!

humble

Metal Gear Solid 2 Demo wrote: »

So I rewatched The Prestige last night for the third time and this time I was really looking for the twists and the details that led up to the conclusion. There were some things I was still confused about though and I was hoping to clear up

-In the early scene with Borden dating Sara, after their first date he leaves her at her door and then appears in her apartment offering tea. Did they actually set it up so Borden leaves and "Fallon" (or vice versa) is in the apartment?

-Is there a comprehensive breakdown of what scenes are Borden and which are Fallon somewhere online? Are we supposed to know in any way besides the affection/hate they show for the woman they're currently in company with? The only two scenes I caught that had "Fallon" in them were the scenes at the dinner after the show where he argues with Sara and then later in the house where they yell at each other.

-Cutter at the end was working with Borden to reunite him with his daughter? For how long, when did that start? I must have missed it

-Algier talks about worrying whether he'll be in the man in the box or the prestige, but wouldn't he be able to control that? Or isn't he technically the one in the box each time, as he has to be "cloned" for the act to work? Essentially, I originally understood it as the clone walks into the machine at the start of the act and then is dropped into the box, but how does he convince the clone to do this? Is it the original that comes out at the prestige? Aggh!!

I believe it is the Borden that ends up marrying Sara the one who shows up in the apartment. His brother was the one who walked her to the door.

Second question I don't know but I assume its just the way they show anger and frustration.

Cutter starts helping Borden when he finds out that Algier is still in fact alive.

Algier at the end says that it was hard going into the trick every night cause he didn't know if he would be the one who would be in the box, or the one who would be the prestige. It has to do with the fact that Borden said Algier never sacrificed and then Algier says something like what I said above.

Metal Gear Solid 2 Demo

Algier at the end says that it was hard going into the trick every night cause he didn't know if he would be the one who would be in the box, or the one who would be the prestige. It has to do with the fact that Borden said Algier never sacrificed and then Algier says something like what I said above.

Yeah I get that but why was it hard, since he technically had it all under control?

As I understand it, how the machine works is the original goes in, gets zapped, remains there but a clone appears in a second location somewhere

How he has it set up is so that whoever is in the machine drops through the trap door and is killed in the tank and the clone appears for the prestige?

But the original Algier wouldn't kill himself that way would he? So he would be the one in the prestige, so then is it a clone walking into the machine?

KalTorak

I'm not sure if there is a breakdown of the Borden/Fallon scenes, other than that one loves Sarah and one loves Olivia, so when the opposites match up they fight. I think there was some speculation as to one being more reckless than the other (tying the dangerous knot at the beginning), I forget how it broke down.

As for the last one, the machine is a directed cloning machine. Each time Angier performs, he (the "original") steps into the machine, flips the switch, lightning, and there are two copies - one in the machine, one behind the audience. That's the extent of Tesla's design - Angier added the trapdoor to dispose of the man in the machine under the stage.

Angier doesn't know whether he'll be in the tank or in the prestige because he doesn't really know how the machine works - even Tesla didn't know. It's a mystery whether the machine creates a clone behind the audience, or transports the original behind the audience and instantly creates the clone inside itself, and since the clones are perfect clones, it's impossible to tell which is the "original". After Angier does the first test with himself and the pistol, you can't tell whether the one that survives (shooting the other) is a clone or the original.

Metal Gear Solid 2 Demo

I think there was some speculation as to one being more reckless than the other (tying the dangerous knot at the beginning), I forget how it broke down.

I can see that, as Borden (one who loves Sara) tells Fallon (one who loves Olivia) that they're done and not going to mess with Algier anymore after he hears about the New Transported Man, but Fallon goes to the show anyway to mess it up but ends up being convicted then hanged.

Angier doesn't know whether he'll be in the tank or in the prestige because he doesn't really know how the machine works - even Tesla didn't know. It's a mystery whether the machine creates a clone behind the audience, or transports the original behind the audience and instantly creates the clone inside itself, and since the clones are perfect clones, it's impossible to tell which is the "original". After Angier does the first test with himself and the pistol, you can't tell whether the one that survives (shooting the other) is a clone or the original.

Okay I can see that, I always presumed that the one outside of the machine is the clone

Siska

As far as I can tell they alternate, like every other day or week or something, so not fair to give them names. One is more irritable, impulsive, defiant and careless. Not in love with Sarah. I think he is also the one ending up hanged, but not 100% on this.

The other is more responsible and in love with Sarah. Presumably he is also the one who doesn't know which "knot" was used.

As for Algiers teleporter it works like this. He is copied and created somewhere away from the machine. The original is dropped in the tank and drowns. Of course, the actual original is long dead and is now a copy of a copy of a copy... multiplied with however many shows he has done with the machine. The copy does not remember the drowning, because the copying happens before the "original" is dropped in the tank. Thus it never happened to the copy... until the next show that is when it's his turn be copied and then die.

Metal Gear Solid 2 Demo

One is more irritable, impulsive, defiant and careless. Not in love with Sarah. I think he is also the one ending up hanged, but not 100% on this.

I think it is, because as he's being taken away from Fallon at the end, he says he's sorry about Sarah

Also, is one of them more stylish or a showman than the other? Because his early acts are very bland and just trick oriented, but later they become more lavish with his costume and all that. Is it because they switch or is it because of Olivia joining them?

KalTorak

It creates a weird sort of "sacrifice" that Angier refers to. Technically, by pulling the switch every night while standing over the tank, he's committing to kill himself. But the copy who survives in the prestige (the one that Borden confronts at the end) has never actually experienced the suicide, since all he retains are the memories of the copies who were in the prestige. All that the surviving copy knows of the sacrifice is the fear of "climbing into that machine every night" as he says.

edit: I think the more elaborate trick-dressing with the electricity and stuff is a result of Olivia joining his act.

humble

Siska wrote: »

As far as I can tell they alternate, like every other day or week or something, so not fair to give them names. One is more irritable, impulsive, defiant and careless. Not in love with Sarah. I think he is also the one ending up hanged, but not 100% on this.

The other is more responsible and in love with Sarah. Presumably he is also the one who doesn't know which "knot" was used.

The one who was hung in the end was the impulsive Borden who had fallen for Olivia. He apologizes to Fallon about Sara and how he was truly sorry.

Metal Gear Solid 2 Demo

Also Algier wants Tesla to remake a machine he made for Borden, but Borden's machine doesn't clone? It's more just the effects. Trying to remember now but does Tesla mentioned why this new machine clones and the old one doesn't?

KalTorak

Tesla probably made Borden's special effects machine to augment his trick, and Borden just gives Angier Tesla's name to send him on a wild goose chase. Angier assumes that Tesla built a teleportation machine for Borden and asks Tesla for the same thing. Tesla essentially builds half of a teleportation machine - it successfully recreates the object in a new place but doesn't destroy the original; basically a cloning machine.

Siska

I am just gonna call the Bordens good twin and evil twin, because it kinda fits. ;p These are their respective parts, in my opinion.

Good Twin
In love with Sarah
Gets his finger shot off.
Does most, if not all, of the inner monologing/narrating.

Evil Twin
In love/lust with Olivia
The ones who tied the knot on Angiers wife
The one who keeps messing with Angiers Acts
Gets his finger cut off.
Is hanged.



Not sure which one got got buried alive.

I wonder if the brothers made some kind of deal over the marriage with Sarah. The evil one obviously did not want to be married. So I wonder if the deal was, the good one would get to marry her and the evil troublemaker would have the final say on any of their life decisions after that.