A young duchess and a peasant meet costume-drama cute in this boy-meets-girl romance set in 1889 Vienna. In spite of an apparently serious attempt to be dramatic, it boils down to a fairy tale, creaking around the infamous and tragic Mayerling episode that helped spark World War I. Like "Pan's Labyrinth," the Spanish Civil War fairy tale, it's long on style, short on substance and logic. A lot of talent went into both movies, but not a lot of thought: they both trivialize horrific episodes in European history. The difference: 'The Illusionist' actually sinks to the "And they lived happily ever after" ending.
Less epic complaints:
1. Eisenheim does some early prestidigitation, but the big supernatural illusions rely on special effects, not a magician's hard-earned techniques of misdirection, stage props, etc. To quote reviewer SydBarrett420 (whom I'd like to meet for both reasons), "' The Illusionist' makes absolutely no attempt to explain how Norton's character performs his magic. So we are left to wonder how a man can make spirits or something similar appear. The answer is, he can't."
2. Both the audience and Rufus Sewell deserve better than reducing Crown Prince Rudolf to a one-note villain. As written, he is pure evil (i.e., pure plot device). Again, fairy tale stuff, trivializing the Habsburg murder-suicide.
3. I can't improve on this summation from Michael-70: "...when Eisenheim is finished, we have an innocent man in jail for murder (who will presumably stay there) and the suicide of another man who is made to think he killed someone who is actually still alive." All of which, by the way, we're not supposed to notice after the *abracadabra* ending.
The good news: Dick Pope's photography is up to his high standard. The evocative score is by Philip Glass. Eddie Marsan is always a treat. Director Neil Burger is not prolific.
Less epic complaints:
1. Eisenheim does some early prestidigitation, but the big supernatural illusions rely on special effects, not a magician's hard-earned techniques of misdirection, stage props, etc. To quote reviewer SydBarrett420 (whom I'd like to meet for both reasons), "' The Illusionist' makes absolutely no attempt to explain how Norton's character performs his magic. So we are left to wonder how a man can make spirits or something similar appear. The answer is, he can't."
2. Both the audience and Rufus Sewell deserve better than reducing Crown Prince Rudolf to a one-note villain. As written, he is pure evil (i.e., pure plot device). Again, fairy tale stuff, trivializing the Habsburg murder-suicide.
3. I can't improve on this summation from Michael-70: "...when Eisenheim is finished, we have an innocent man in jail for murder (who will presumably stay there) and the suicide of another man who is made to think he killed someone who is actually still alive." All of which, by the way, we're not supposed to notice after the *abracadabra* ending.
The good news: Dick Pope's photography is up to his high standard. The evocative score is by Philip Glass. Eddie Marsan is always a treat. Director Neil Burger is not prolific.