THE ILLUSIONIST

*CUT TO THE CHASE*

NOTE: This spoiler was sent in by Cat. who says... "I have
heard a lot of people say they knew the twist early on, but I really
think you are meant to catch on to the fact that they are up to
something. It is beautifully filmed.

THE
ILLUSI
ONIST
Previe
w

The movie starts with the Chief explaining to the Prince at the royal estate
that Eisenheim wont talk. The prince says it is his job to fix the situation by
whatever means are necessary and asks if they have anything on him. The
Chief starts to talk about his past and we go to showing
Eisenheim as a young boy balancing an egg on a spoon as he walks through
the town. He passes a girl and a few boys with obvious wealth on horses.
The boys taunt him and leave, the girl follows him. They sit in a room as he
shows her magic tricks. Adults barge in and take her saying she cannot be
with the commoners. We learn this is Princess Sophie. There is then a
montage of the two of them meeting each other in secret. There is a
moment when they, as young teens, kiss. They hide in a carved out
cave/cellar. She begs him to make her disappear. They agree to flee
together, but are tracked down and she is dragged away. Her guards
threaten Eisenheim to stay away from her or they will punish his family. He
creates a beautiful wooden puzzle locket (the one that is featured on the
website) and gives it to Sophie with his picture inside. She says that she had
always wanted a picture of him.
He leaves with a knapsack that night
and never returns.
The next we see, Eisenheim is an adult and performing a show, as he has
returned to Vienna. The Chief Inspector Uhl is in the audience. E impresses
the audience with several tricks, including growing an orange tree
(important) and rolling a ball ala Bowie in Labyrinth. Norton actually learned
all of the tricks himself for the movie. At the next show, he has a royal guest
in the audience. The Chief Inspector comes with his men to check out the
security of the venue for the Prince. He confesses to having an interest in
magic and trifles with some tricks. He asks for the secret of the orange tree
but Eisenheim avoids it and instead gives away another trick. You can tell
that the Chief likes him and respects his talent. At that evenings show,
Eisenheim asks the audience for someone to step forward. Someone who is
not afraid of death. No one moves. The Prince stands and after a moment
gestures toward his companion, Princess Sophie. She walks on stage as a
large mirror is rolled onto the stage. Eisenheims eyes widen as he
recognizes her and he asks, Do we know each other? Have we met? She
says no. They bring a large red robe out that she puts on and he

hypnotizes her. He has her face the mirror and wave to herself, turn
around and bow. Her reflection does the same except the bow and crosses
her arms. In the mirror, another figure approaches behind Sophies
reflection, raises a sword and kills her. Sophie faints and Eisenheim catches
her. She turns to the audience and is fine.
The Prince requests Eisenheim come to speak with them after the show.
Eisenheim keeps him waiting as he comes to grips with seeing Sophie again.
When he makes an appearance, the prince tries to explain all of his illusions.
Sophie says she should let him keep his secrets. The Prince invites him to
the castle to do a private performance where no stage or lighting can be
manipulated. Eisenheim agrees and says, Maybe Ill make you disappear,
to Sophie.
Sophie sends a letter to E the next day to have him meet her. There is a
carriage switch and they talk as they drive around town. She reveals that
the Prince has men watching her for her safety and that she is to be
married to him. They talk about growing up and a little about where he was
during all those years. He heads back to the theater. The Chiefs men report
his meeting with Sophie.
He appears that night and performs for a private party of the Princes
friends. He starts with a magic painting of the Princes father the king.
Someone in the group laughs and says he thought the old man wasnt
invited. The animosity is clear. The Prince goes up to explain how the trick
was done, going so far as to even look up Eisenheims sleeve. It is clear that
he wants to ridicule and expose the magician and is rather drunk. Sophie
tells him to stop and the others chide him for trying to ruin the show. He
stops, very unhappy and challenges E to do a trick without using any props
he has brought with him. E requests the Princes sword and touches the floor
with it, talking about the elusiveness of power and comparing it to King
Arthurs Sword. He asks who will take the sword as he balances it on the tip.
Two men try and cannot pick it up. The Prince then tries and is not able to
remove it. He glares at E, embarrassed. E nods and the Prince picks up the
sword. He angrily walks out. Sophie, scared, follows him. The Prince tells
the Chief to shut him down.
Sophie shows up on horse back at Es cottage, petrified. The Prince has a
reputation for hurting women. E sees that she still wears the locket he gave
her and the two make love. She reveals that the Prince is using her as a
bargaining chip to get another countrys backing so he can overthrow his
father and take control. E asks her to run away with him and she says no
that as long as they live, he will always hunt them. He asks if she would
trust him, if he could make her disappear, would she leave with him. She
agrees to go.

He returns to the theatre only to find that they have been shut down. He
fires his manager and begins to pack up his gear. He is invited, also known
as trailed and forced, to lunch with the Chief. The Chief tells him to be
careful, that he has made a powerful enemy. That while they live on the
fringe of their glittering world, they can never, ever be a part of it. He
admits to being a butchers son and E reveals that he was a cabinet makers
son and that his father built the cabinets at Sophies home. That they knew
each other as children.
Later, we see E packing a suitcase and withdrawing large amounts of
money. He is also packing up the cabin he was staying at. He specifically
tells them to leave the lights. He meets Sophie at her carriage and gives her
the suitcase. She then reaches out, exposing her face and kisses E. The
Chiefs men report this. The Chief goes to the Prince and tells him that they
were seen together, but does not tell him about the kiss. He is very
unhappy. I believe he says something like, take care of him or I will.
Around this time, not too sure exactly, the Chief overhears a conversation at
the train station with E and an old man. She understands everything. Youll
travel ahead with her and Ill follow.
We next see Sophie waiting for the Prince. He informs her that she will stop
embarrassing him and she will be leaving with him tomorrow. She tells him
no and that she will not marry him. He strikes her hard across the cheek. He
then basically threatens her life if she is not there in the morning. He is very
drunk. You see her say good bye, rush out and run past an attendant and
run out to the stables. He staggers after her, and from the attendants POV,
you see him enter the stable and hear her cry no please dont, scary bad
sound. Shortly after you see her horse ride out with laying unconscious on
her back. The horse shows up the next morning, still saddled, without her
and blood down its side. Presumably from Sophie. The Prince leaves without
her. The people start a search team. Es group come across her floating
very Ophelia like in the river. E storms into the water and holds her body in
his grief. The royal physician is there when the Chief arrives and pronounces
her dead from having her throat slashed. The Chief and his men look into
the closed carriage at the body, you see her throat and he picks up a small
green jewel from the folds of her dress.
<a href="http://c.casalemedia.com/c?
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src="http://as.casalemedia.com/s?s=54362&u=http
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E, overcome by grief, starts accusing the Prince of murder and yelling at the
Chief about how corrupt he is. The Chief goes off to inspect the castle
grounds and warns E to be careful of what he says.
Meanwhile, E opens a theatre with men he smuggles from China (?). His act
solely consists now of raising and speaking to the dead. It causes quite the
stir in society. The Prince dons a disguise and attends a show. That night, E
conjures Sophie. E is obviously anguished at seeing her. People in the
audience yell questions to her, first and foremost if the Prince murdered her.
It is clear that the Prince has lost favor with the people. He leaves and
orders the Chief to stop him.
The chief meets with E in his rooms. He is clearly unhappy at the situation
and tries to warn E, saying that he really does not want to arrest him. That if
its real, its amazing and if its not, its amazing. E tells him to enjoy the
show.
The police surround him and arrest him on fraud. At the station, he refuses
to say how he does it, but throws open the windows and tells the waiting
crowd that everything he does is an illusion, that it is not real and he never
meant to give anyone any misplaced hope. He leaves on the grounds that it
is no longer fraud.
Before the show, he rehires his old manager and gives him the theatre.
That night he conjures Sophie again and she says that she is
missing her locket, that she had it when she died. The police swarm
the stage and when they go to arrest him, they discover he is
intangible as his ghosts. They search, but cannot find him.
The Chief goes to the cabin and looks through all of what E has left
behind. One was the plans for the locket and you see him swirl a
glass container of dark liquid.
He returns to the stables where Sophie was last seen and finds the
locket and another gem in the hay. He seizes the Princes sword and
finds that it is missing the stones he now has in his hand.
This leads him full circle to where we started the film
The Chief continues the conversation with the Prince accusing him of
murder. The Prince flips out and says that the magician planted everything
and is trying to ruin him. He grabs a gun and threatens to shoot the Chief to
keep him from telling. Uhl says that is why he took so long in getting back to
the Prince. One of the loose ends was writing the King and telling him
everything. We hear horses coming up to the house and the Prince locks all

the doors. He is still holding the gun to Uhl. He yells that he was going to
make things better, but the magician set him up and ruined him. His fathers
guards are trying to kick down the door. The Prince turns the gun on himself
and blows his brains out. The guards enter just after.
The Chief frantically searches for E and is at the train station trying to catch
him. We see E, in disguise, get on the train. Just after that, and street urchin
gives the Chief a package. It contains the notebook with the secret for the
orange tree. Uhl looks around him as we see flashbacks. The suitcase
contained disguises and a drugging agent for the wine. E swiping the stones
during the King Arthur trick. Her being revived from her supposed death.
Her purposely getting the blood on the horses side. The physician really
being Es friend from the train in the earlier scene. You see Sophie drugging
the wine before the encounter.
In the end, you see him arriving at a place in the country reuniting with a
very alive Sophie.
The movie ends with a very chagrined then amused Chief. He relished the
idea that they got away with it. And that he was let in on the illusion.Cut to
the Chase: