To perform a magic trick, Robert Angier has procured a machine that enables him to teleport across a room, or perhaps it teleports a copy of him across a room. He’s not sure. All he knows is that when he turns the machine on and steps inside, he experiences a flurry of sparks and a blinding flash of light, and then there are two of him: one standing in the machine and the other standing somewhere nearby. To deal with this doubling, he installs a trap door under the stage that opens at the critical moment; the version of him still standing in the machine is dropped into a large tank of water and drowns. Stepping into the machine takes courage, Angier explains, because he doesn't know which copy is “really him”: he could end up as the “man in the box” who drowns, or he could be “the Prestige,” appearing on the other side of the room before an astonished crowd. He has no idea which fate awaits him. And yet, night after night, he steps into the machine. Why?
The Look On Their Faces
The Look On Their Faces
The Look On Their Faces
To perform a magic trick, Robert Angier has procured a machine that enables him to teleport across a room, or perhaps it teleports a copy of him across a room. He’s not sure. All he knows is that when he turns the machine on and steps inside, he experiences a flurry of sparks and a blinding flash of light, and then there are two of him: one standing in the machine and the other standing somewhere nearby. To deal with this doubling, he installs a trap door under the stage that opens at the critical moment; the version of him still standing in the machine is dropped into a large tank of water and drowns. Stepping into the machine takes courage, Angier explains, because he doesn't know which copy is “really him”: he could end up as the “man in the box” who drowns, or he could be “the Prestige,” appearing on the other side of the room before an astonished crowd. He has no idea which fate awaits him. And yet, night after night, he steps into the machine. Why?