The Illusionist : Pure Magic
March 27th 2007 16:30
Edward Norton nails it as The Illusionist
A movie where the hero and the heroine fall in love as children, where she is a countess and he is a poor cabinet maker's son? Do they still make those kind of movies? Happily for us, they still do.
The Illusionist is the love story of Edward, a poor man's son and Sophie, a countess. They were spearated from each other in childhood and only meet after 15 years in Vienna. He has become a notorious illusionist and she is about to be married to the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince is both intellectually curious and morbidly jealous at the same time and as Edward's fame increases, he instructs the police chief to keep an eye on him. When Sophie and Edward recognise each other and renew their affair, things are set for a showdown.
Right from the start, when the evocative music announces the opening credits, the movie transports you into another world--its own. The art direction and photography are not clunky like they tend to be for the usual period movies. The whole ambience has a frothy, neighbourly closeness to it that is quite appealing. The magic tricks might look a bit icky but I have read online that they were based on real stuff done in the nineteeth century.
Jessica Biel as the lovely Sophie
I was a tad uncomfortable with the fate of the Crown Prince but given my beliefs I still relished at the idea that the villain stands for a social reformer,who is made to confess the futility of his utopian dreams, before he gets his due. The hero does not immediately stand for anything but he does emerge victorious against a bad guy who should be a bad guy but is ain't too often. The storybook ending gave me a chidish pleasure,
All in all, a most pleasurable experience.
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