The Prestige (film)

"Are you watching closely?"

"The secret impresses no one. The trick you use it for is everything."

"The sacrifice... that's the price of a good trick."

"You went halfway around the world. You spent a fortune. You did terrible things. Really terrible things, Robert. And all for nothing."

"We both had half of a full life, which was somehow enough for us. But not for them."

"You're familiar with the phrase "Man's reach exceeds his grasp"? It's a lie. Man's grasp exceeds his nerve. The only limits on scientific progress are those imposed by society. The first time I changed the world, I was hailed as a visionary. The second time I was asked politely to retire. The world only tolerates one change at a time. And so here I am. Enjoying my "retirement". Nothing is impossible, Mr. Angier, what you want is simply expensive."

"Don't forget your hat."

"I hope you enjoy the mountain air, this will take some time."

"Every great magic trick consists of three parts or acts. The first part is called "The Pledge". The magician shows you something ordinary: a deck of cards, a bird or a man. He shows you this object. Perhaps he asks you to inspect it to see if it is indeed real, unaltered, normal. But of course...it probably isn't. The second act is called "The Turn". The magician takes the ordinary something and makes it do something extraordinary. Now you're looking for the secret... but you won't find it, because of course you're not really looking. You don't really want to know. You want to be fooled. But you wouldn't clap yet. Because making something disappear isn't enough; you have to bring it back. That's why every magic trick has a third act, the hardest part, the part we call "The Prestige"."

"Every magic trick consists of three parts, or acts. The first part is called the pledge, the magician shows you something ordinary. The second act is called the turn, the magician takes the ordinary something and makes it into something extraordinary. But you wouldn't clap yet, because making something disappear isn't enough. You have to bring it BACK. Now you're looking for the secret. But you won't find it because of course, you're not really looking. You don't really want to work it out. You want to be fooled."

"The pledge of Nolan's The Prestige is that the film, having been metaphorically sawed in two, will be restored; it fails when it cheats, as, for example, if the whole woman produced on the stage were not the same one so unfortunately cut in two. Other than that fundamental flaw, which leads to some impenetrable revelations toward the end, it's quite a movie — atmospheric, obsessive, almost satanic."

"Hugh Jackman - Robert Angier"

"Christian Bale - Alfred Borden"

"Michael Caine - Cutter"

"Piper Perabo - Julia McCullough"

"Rebecca Hall - Sarah Borden"

"Scarlett Johansson - Olivia Wenscombe"

"David Bowie - Nikola Tesla"