The Illusionist, starring Edward Norton as Eisenheim, and Jessica Biel as Duchess Sophie von Teschen, is one of the most engrossing movies ever, even Rotten Tomatoes are giving it a high 76% rating!
Warning: Partial spoiler ahead!
The movie is about Eisenheim who falls in love with Sophie, a duchess well above his social standing. As a teenager, Eisenheim is the son of a carpenter. One day, he meets a traveling magician along a road. The magician performs several tricks for him and then, both the magician and the tree he was sitting under vanish. Eisenheim becomes obsessed with magic tricks after this and also falls in love with Sophie. Eisenheim tells of his plans to go to China to learn more magic and Sophie promises to go with him. On the day that they are going to leave, however, the police come looking for Sophie. The two hide in the secret room and Sophie begs Eisenheim to make them both disappear. However, he is unable to fulfill the request to make both of them disappear and the two are separated.
Eisenheim leaves his village to travel the world and perfect his magic after this. He returns a master illusionist, only to find that Sophie is expected to marry the ruthless Crown Prince Leopold (Sewell), who is well known for abusing his lady friends. After humiliating the crown prince during a private show, Eisenheim finds his hit performance shut out of Vienna. Eisenheim and Sophie, having recognized each other at a performance, meet privately and finally consume their love. Their romance begun anew, they plan to elope; but first, Sophie points out, something must be done to stop Leopold, who, she reveals, is planning a coup d’etat to take control of Austria from his aging father, the emperor, while using his engagement to her to win the support of Hungary. When Leopold finds out from Uhl, who was following the couple, he apparently kills Sophie in a drunken rage. Unfortunately, Leopold’s aristocratic social standing makes any accusations against him unthinkable. As Eisenheim plunges into despair and the citizens of Vienna begin to suspect Leopold of murder, Uhl begins to observe Eisenheim’s actions more closely.
Distressed with grief, Eisenheim prepares a new kind of magic show, using mysterious equipment and Chinese workers and performed the greatest illusion ever.
You have to watch the movie to truly enjoy the show. All in all, this movie has got many rave reviews and is worth watching. If you love magic, if you love illusion, if you love classical movie, if you love Vienna, even if you don’t love all these, you will truly love this movie.
If you haven’t watched this movie yet, watch the trailer below.
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