The Prestige

Borden is on trial for murder. Top hats fill a forest. A world of illusion, obsession, and deadly rivalry between magicians.

Cutter explains the three parts of a magic trick. "Are you watching closely?" The theme: sacrifice and the cost of obsession.

Angier and Borden are friends and assistants. They work together. Julia is Angier's wife. The world before the tragedy.

During a water tank trick, Julia drowns. Angier blames Borden for tying the wrong knot. The rivalry begins in tragedy.

Angier wants revenge. Should he let it go? Move on? The men become rival magicians. The obsession or peace?

Angier sabotages Borden's bullet catch, injuring his hand. The rivalry escalates from competition to active sabotage. No going back.

Sarah (Borden's wife) and Olivia represent the human cost of obsession. The relationships that suffer for the tricks.

The escalating rivalry. Each man tries to outdo the other. Borden debuts "The Transported Man." Angier sends Olivia to spy. The promise of the premise - the magic war.

Angier steals Borden's diary cipher. He learns about Tesla. False victory - he thinks he's found the secret. Stakes raised.

Angier travels to Tesla. The machine doesn't work. Borden's marriage falls apart. Sarah dies. Both men lose everything pursuing the rivalry.

Angier's "Real Transported Man" premiere. Borden goes backstage, finds Angier drowning in a tank. Borden is arrested for murder. Complete destruction.

Borden in prison, condemned to hang. His daughter will grow up without him. What was it all for? The cost of obsession realized.

Borden refuses to reveal his secret even to save himself. The obsession is complete. He sends Fallon to save his daughter.

The final reveals. Fallon IS Borden (twins living one life). Angier's machine created duplicates - he murdered himself nightly. Borden shoots Angier.

Angier dies among the tanks containing his drowned clones. Borden reunites with his daughter. The cost of the greatest trick. "Are you watching closely?"