"The Prestige": A masterpiece that questions Christopher Nolan's true "achievement"

Index

• Human weakness drives the story
• The confrontational composition brings to mind the image of Nolan's beloved masterpiece.
• A competition between unique and eccentric magicians
• The art of misleading storytelling through the human weakness of ego

Human weakness drives the story

Director Christopher Nolan has been getting more attention due to his Academy Award win for " Oppenheimer " (23). As fans know, he has established himself as a hit maker. His past works have already been highly praised, but this award means that the Academy Awards have finally caught up with him.

In addition to the confusion of timelines, " Oppenheimer " has the flavor of a crime story that is unique to Nolan's works. It is a film like a trade fair of political villains. The protagonist Oppenheimer is no exception. Of course, because he is the protagonist, his humanity is deeply explored and there is room for sympathy, but the sense of grayness cannot be wiped away.

If you think about it, many of Nolan's works have focused on human weakness, which has driven the story. Weakness is the first evil that humans face, and all evil derives from it. The villain Joker from " The Dark Knight " (2008) is the ultimate example of this. However, Nolan regards the Joker as an object of fear, and intentionally does not depict his past, so there is no part of him that we can sympathize with other than his charisma as a villain.

"The Prestige" (c)Photofest / Getty Images

In this respect, the two main characters of "The Prestige" (2006), the subject of this article, have a relatively easy-to-understand process of losing their morals. Why did the two magicians follow the path of ruin? Let's talk about the appeal of this suspense thriller, which depicts a situation that seems like an irony of fate, along with the background of the work.

The confrontational composition brings to mind the image of Nolan's beloved masterpiece.