Friday, July 30, 2021
The Illusionist
- Commentary: I watched this movie last night, 8/20/21. As with most of the movies I acquire, I'd seen it before, only once, as I recall, with my mother, and have been intrigued by it ever since. Not with the magic. Although I find watching magic immensely entertaining, it's not an entertainment upon which I've much ruminated.
That's what I realized, last night, I enjoy about the movie. It does my ruminating for me, sparks questions in my mind about illusion, suggests answers, asks more questions, swirls all this around a romance story that could go either way, around the character developments of all the principal participants in the movie, all of which could go any way, and then comes to a satisfying but still mysterious end.
I've called the end "mysterious" because, well, I had trouble following Inspector Uhl's (played masterfully by Paul Giamantti) summation at the end of the movie. At first I thought it was me, but as I considered the movie further after watching it and then replayed the scene containing his final summation, I realized that I think it was meant to be confusing, as, the magic of illusion is that everyone sees something different because considering any illusion has different consequences for each person who sees it. Some don't even consider an illusion illusory. Prince Leopold certainly didn't, and look what happened to him.
Which brings us to the resolution of the romance. By the end of the movie it seems inevitable that Sophie and Eduard come together, something they've both been fighting for all their lives. But the final scene of them together has an otherworldly quality about it, as though, somehow, their lives were ended and their romance takes place in some sort of afterlife.
Which I found satisfying to contemplate. It's as though, well, you don't get what you're striving for until you can no longer strive for it.
'Nuff said, I think.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Edward Norton Eisenheim The Illusionist/Eduard Abramovich Aaron Johnson Young Eduard Abramovich Paul Giamatti Chief Inspector Walter Uhl Jessica Biel Duchess Sophie Von Teschen Rufus Sewell Crown Prince Leopold Eddie Marsan Josef Fischer Jake Wood Jurka Tom Fisher Willgut
The Wikipedia write-up for this movie is here.
Release Date: 2006
Directed by Neil Burger.
Labels: dramaD, edward-norton, fantasy4, historical4, paul-giamatti, period6, romance4
