Formalist Criticism:
In reviewing Christopher Nolan’s 2006 film The Prestige, I am going to look at the significance of his film and its relationship to others.
The funeral scene in The Prestige where Cutter is eulogizing the death of Julia is, I think, of great significance to the rest of Nolan’s film. In this scene, Angier, Cutter and company our paying there respects to Julia in a hallway where the dead reside. Angier and Cutter are standing on one side of Julia’s coffin. In the next moment, Borden walks up to the opposite side of the coffin, visually dividing the characters for the viewers’. Angier questions Borden about which knot he tied on Julia’s hands and Borden replies with a genuine “I don’t know.” Borden then leaves, walking away from the camera, from Angier’s point-of-view.
Before this scene, Nolan’s direction of a nonlinear narration has the audience unsure of what exactly has happened and who should receive their sympathy. Who is definitively in the wrong is unclear. This moment, however, I believe splits the characters and thus gives the audience Angier to sympathize with.
Nolan has created a scene of equality with tones white and black and the same image of ongoing tombs behind both Borden and Angier. The only thing that separates the two men is the coffin of Julia and the lingering question of whether or not Borden tied the wrong knot. This scene is thus a moment of clarity for everyone; Angier, who has decided that Julia’s death was Borden’s fault, Cutter, who never liked Borden much and this moment gave him justification, and the audience who think that they finally understand who was in the wrong. The only person who is uncertain is Borden; he doesn’t know which knot he tied.
Later, in Angier’s death scene, Nolan has created a parallel image of the morgue at Julia’s funeral. Fallon is standing over Angier who is lying on the ground, wounded by a gunshot. He now has the upper hand, it no longer matters which knot was tied because Angier tricked Borden to his death. It is now clear to both the audience as well as Fallon that the villain is Angier.
As he walks away from Angier, the camera tracks backward in front of Fallon, revealing a scene almost identical to the image at the morgue. Except, instead of tombs, we see rows and rows of glass containers, each one filled with water and one of Angier’s dead clones. This example, I think, also justifies Christopher Nolan as an auteur.
Radha, it was not until our class discussion of Julia’s funeral scene that I realized what a crucial moment it is in relationship to the rest of Christopher Nolan’s storytelling. You bring to light a series of great observations that I had not explored myself yet, including that Angier and Cutter are staged on one side of the coffin (separating those characters for the viewer). I had not really thought about the fact that Cutter is separated amongst the men, as he does work with both characters and now I am starting to reconsider much of how he is staged between the two men throughout the film. Also, I don’t know about you, but in this moment where Borden says “I don’t know,” in response to Angier’s question about which know he tied - I actually thought he was lying during my first viewing of the film. I had not figured out his character, and I was still unsure of his motives. I did not consider Borden as “uncertain,” I just thought he was blatantly hiding the truth. Also, I am not sure if it is equality that is to be represented by the black and white of the hallway. I took it as a metaphor for truth and illusion – how, at the crux of this story, illusion drives the narrative and provides the motivation for the competition between Angier and Borden – things are never as they seem. I would argue that Angier’s death scene holds even more significance in relationship to the film as a whole than Julia’s funeral scene, as a critical moment in formalist criticism. I believe it is unclear who is in the wrong until the final moment of the film because even though we want to trust Borden and we like him, and Angier seems vengeful and merciless, there is no real sense of clarity until Borden reveals his twin. In this moment, we have actual confirmation of Borden’s sincere love of magic and illusion, but more importantly, for the first time in the film – nothing appears unclear (well, for the most part).
ReplyDelete