Foreshadowing
Birds and birdcages foreshadow this
What is both magicians' tricks, that doubles are integral to both, and that one must die?
"Simple maybe, but...
not easy." - Alfred Borden
What is a non-linear narrative structure?
The director of the film
Who is Christopher Nolan?
"The secret impresses no one. The trick you use it for is everything."
Who is Borden?
Borden uses this object to foreshadow his trick to Sarah and her newphew
What is a double 'head' coin?
"I'm their slave...
and one day they'll choose to destroy me." - Tesla
This technique is used to great effect in the final scenes
What are flashbacks?
The two rival magicians
Who are Alfred Borden and Robert Angier?
"Obsession is a young man's game."
Who is John Cutter
Borden uses this dialogue to foreshadow his own trick after watching the Chinese magician
What is "This is the performance... total devotion to his art. Utter self-sacrifice."
my wife, I care about his secret." - Robert Angier
The beginning and ending both have this
What is Cutter's explanation of the 3 parts of a magic trick?
Angier's real identity
"See, sacrifice, Robert. That's the price of a good trick. But you wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"
Who is Borden?
"What knot did you tie?" foreshadows this
What is the fact that there is part of Borden, his brother, that doesn't know?
"You mean it today...
which makes it so much harder when you don't." - Sarah Borden
What is Angier's and Borden's diaries?
Angier's wife
Who is Julia McCullough?
"Did you think you were unique, Mr Angier? I've been Caesar. I've played Faust. How hard could it possibly be to play the Great Danton?"
Who is Gerald Root?
Sarah's nephew says this piece of dialogue to hint at how Borden's trick works
What is "but where's his brother?"
"You never understood why we did this. The audience knows the truth: the world is...
simple. It's miserable, solid all the way through."
Bonus: "It was the look on their faces."
The three acts of a trick match are metacinematic in this way
Pledge: Presentation of characters–an ordinary story about two magicians and their rivalry
Turn: Nolan uses techniques and structure to mislead the audience, making us believe their tricks in some way.
Prestige: The tricks are revealed, as are the warnings about lies, secrecy, and artistic obsession above all else
Cutter and Fallon have this job
What is an ingénieur?
" I once told you about a sailor who described drowning to me... I was lying. He said it was agony."
Who is John Cutter?