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1* So when Borden wrote [[spoiler:Tesla on the paper, did he mean it, or was he just sending Angier on a wild goose chase that happened to produce results?]]
2** [[spoiler: He was just sending Angier on a wild goose chase that happened to produce results.]]
3** [[spoiler: It's a minor thing, but I'm amazed Angier didn't skim the whole thing before reading it in depth, and notice the "ha ha, sucker!" at the end.]]
4*** Remember the discussion of the rotating cipher, though - every page required long, tiresome interpreting. No sense going to all that effort for just a few words per page.
5*** And reading skills weren't taught the same way in the 1800s. It would not have occured to him to skim.
6*** Actually, much more amazing is that ''Borden'' didn't, in fact falling for his own trick despite the lack of any cypher.
7
8* So. Matter duplicator. Potential source of untold wonders and wealth. Its first use? ExpendableClone.
9** In anyone else's hands it probably could have been used for something else, Angier was so obsessed with the magic and [[spoiler:framing Borden]] he never bothered to consider other uses.
10** In addition, money isn't the problem for Angier. [[spoiler:His true title is Lord Caldlow, it is mentioned early in the movie that he changed his name to avoid embarrassing his family.]]
11** The Duplicator also probably works on non-metallic money.
12** But a legitimate source of FridgeHorror ''if'' the fire doesn't destroy the machine at the very end.
13
14* Why does Angier continually duplicate [[spoiler: and drown]] himself, rather than duplicating himself once or twice, and using that for the act?
15** The reason he stops using the body double is because he became too hard to manage; Imagine how hard it would have been to manage a ''copy of himself.''
16** Much, ''much'' easier than managing a different person? You already know your duplicate wants to work with you as much as you do with him! Simply resolve "I will work with my duplicate" and then press the button. When you meet him, you're guaranteed to have no problems, because guess what, that guy already resolved to work with his duplicate too! That said, Angier panicked and killed his first duplicate, which would make it nigh-impossible to truly resolve at a gut level that he could trust a counterpart.
17** It's definitely easier than [[spoiler:managing a [[AlwaysIdenticalTwins "clone"]] from birth, or however long Borden and Freddy had been at it.]] I guess it just goes to show that he really is the worse magician.
18*** Well, Angier himself admits as much to Borden in the end.
19** Angier hates himself. Killing himself over and over and over again is part of a masochistic self-punishment for his wife's death near the beginning of the movie.
20** It's established earlier in the movie that Angier is less willing than or able to maintain {{Kayfabe}} than Borden. Look at the lengths [[spoiler:Borden and brother]] had to go to in order to keep the charade going; there's no way Angier would have had the dedication to do that, never mind [[spoiler: two of him]]. Angier's actions, to him, represent a more efficient solution.
21*** Angier has a perfect way to use a clone of himself: Have one at the Caldlow estate managing his business (which can be done without too much outside contact, probably), and another one making arrangements for his magic work. However, as others have said, his distrust of his clone plus desire to frame Borden make [[spoiler: killing the clones]] make sense.
22** Angier ran the trick at the end using the machine each time because the entire point was to frame Borden. He had no way of knowing when Borden would end up under the stage, so he set it up that no matter when he did it, he would get caught. All the newly created Angier clone would have to do is listen for screams under the stage, and if he hears them, he doesn't make his grand appearance. That way, the frame up is more of a sure thing.
23*** There are several overlapping reasons for using the machine the way Angier does. For one, if I understand the movie correctly, the machine both teleports and clones its subject, each of which has the potential to fulfill one of Angier's goals: the teleportation means that he can perform the greatest magic trick ever seen on stage and beat Borden as an illusionist, and because the machine creates a clone each time, at some point Borden will be found with the dead body (because precisely 100 performances have been booked, Borden has to investigate within a short time frame), thus fulfilling Angier's desire for revenge on Borden for his wife's death. On another level, the reasons are prisoners' dilemma type logic: both the clone and the original think they are the original, know that the other thinks it's the original, and know that because the other has considered killing the other to cover up loose ends, it's in their best interests to figure out how to kill the other first. In order to prevent a scenario like this, Angier decides to have one of the copies die each time. Finally, the reasons are psychological: as the scenes with Root show, Angier feels that he has never received the acclaim from an audience he deserves, and doesn't want a "double", be it Root or a clone, to take the applause away from him. At the same time, Angier is conscious of how much his obsession has hurt others, and by drowning each time the same way his wife did, he can punish himself for his crimes an infinite number of times.
24* "Angier, we need to find somebody who looks exactly like you! The whole plot hinges on it!" *looks through a few pubs for an evening, finds a man who looks more like him than any two non-twin people have ever looked like each other* "All right, no big deal. Moving on...."
25** We don't know how many days or weeks it took.
26*** Actually, ''years'' would be a more correct estimate - but only if it really was as simple a plan as that. In the 19th century, the most efficient ways to do what Cutter needed to do would be 1) to publish an announcement in the newspaper - out of question for obvious reasons; 2) to employ an entire army of scouts - we know that Angier can manage that from the financial standpoint, but remember how Cutter was actually surprised that Root had refrained from blackmail for as long as he did; no way he was going to risk involving a large number of people. That leaves a pretty limited range of available actions for Cutter... But the ''third'' option is to look among the people who can be expected to be able to transform themselves into other people - that is, professional actors. Which is, judging by the fact that Root ''is'' an actor, precisely the route Cutter takes. He probably contacted all the performers he could find (which, with his connections in the theatrical world, is somwhat plausible), while not forgetting to ask them about their former colleagues - and probably one of those contacted pointed out Root to him. Still, it had to take a ''long'' time because it is unlikely that cautious Cutter would reveal that he was looking for a person resembling Angier - most likely he made some kind of unrelated excuse and then proceeded to individually look at every candidate.
27** And even after Cutter makes him up, he's not a dead ringer for Angier. Borden, and even we in the audience, can tell them apart fairly easily.
28* How many people would be willing to live with the knowledge of the existence [[spoiler: of a clone, <exactly> like you, that (and this is crucial) thinks that it <is> you, that would most likely want to take over your life? It's bad enough for twins to be living the life of one and half men, much less two (or three or more) identical people, who'd have to be <exceptionally> strong willed to accept such a fate. I certainly wouldn't.]]
29** Some people would, some people would not. It may depend on how much you enjoy science fiction :) Remember, the duplicate is ''exactly'' like you initially, so if you ''want'' to work with your duplicate, he'll want to work with you! But if you go in with an attitude of trying to "control" your duplicate or be the "real you", well, he'll want to control you too and take over "your" life.
30** Angier's mistake was twofold: First, he didn't think through his plan ''before'' creating his duplicate, which means that he could never be sure that the duplicate would believe in that plan since it'd be developed after the point of divergence; he didn't resolve (as Borden did) that the two would work together as equals, which would have been a self-fulfilling prophecy. Second, his reaction to the duplicate was shooting him in panic. A calmer person might have reacted a different way, but perhaps Angier is a fearful, violent man. After that, there's very little he could've done - he knows in his heart that he has killed his double and could do it again, and any double would know this too, so they would never be able to trust each other.
31* Why did Angier keep a whole collection of [[spoiler: his drowned clones]]?
32** Eh, he doesn't really have anywhere else to put them. Best to hide 'em someplace.
33*** But that would mean [[spoiler:he had to use a new tank every night]]! Wouldn't it be a lot less trouble to take them out and store them someplace else?
34*** We're not talking about mere objects, we're talking about [[spoiler: corpses]] here. Considering they [[spoiler: begin to rot and stink pretty quickly, they're not the kind of thing you can just leave lying about without attracting attention. Throw in the facts that being found with one corpse can get you hung (as evidenced with Borden), they were the secret to his trick and they all looked exactly like him, and you can begin to see why he wasn't too keen on fishing them out and storing them. Hell, considering how difficult it is to haul or bury a body without a disability (never mind the difficulty of removing a 200lb piece of meat out of a 10ft tank unassisted), the problem of having to deal with a corpse that looks exactly like you, and that pickling bodies keeps them fresh, easily moved and well hidden, it's really worth the cost of buying a new tank every evening instead.]]
35*** And apart from maybe size, [[spoiler: there's not much preventing him from using the machine to duplicate the tank, too. Which is probably cheaper than buying a new one.]]
36
37* When Angier and Borden were working for Milton, [[spoiler: why had Borden pre-arranged to have always lived with his twin brother as one person, just in case he later on needed to do one particular magic trick when he went solo? And if this wasn't so, was the one whose negligence resulted in Angier's wife's death the one who ended up going to the gallows, or not?]]
38** [[spoiler: Yes, he always knew he was going to make the trick, he even says so near the beginning of the movie, he says he has an amazing act that nobody else can do - because nobody else has a secret twin.]]
39
40* I love this movie, but Angier says regarding his Transported Man act something to the effect of, [[spoiler:"I never knew if I would be the one transported or the one falling through the trap door to his death." Nonsense, I say. The ''first'' time he tested the machine, the Angier in the machine survived, shooting his clone. Therefore, according to the path his consciousness takes, the "real" Angier is the one in the machine. So what does he do? Sets it up so this "real" Angier is killed every night. Would you have the courage to do that? After a few dozen performances, it would seem to him that he was the man in the machine after the first transportation, then was teleported in every subsequent one. Of course, Tesla had already established that both copies share the identity ("They are all your hat, Mr. Angier."), but it still really bugs me that for at least the first performance, he was effectively setting up his own suicide.]]
41** I had the impression that he was punishing himself for [[spoiler:his wife's death. The way he experimented with the pain of drowning in his washbasin seemed to be a setup for his eventual planned death(s). In other words, he felt guilty and wanted to experience what his wife had experienced. This works out better when you consider that Frederick Borden--indirectly responsible for Alfred's wife's hanging suicide--met the same fate that she did.]]
42** How could you tell [[spoiler: the man in the machine is the real Angier? If they're exact duplicates then it can be assumed they both have Angier's thoughts and memories. So even the duplicate would have gone for the gun, seeing as he probably decided beforehand that he'd just murder the clone. He was potentially setting up his own suicide the second he stepped into the machine.]] Which I guess doesn't make things any better.
43*** You are correct that [[spoiler:each Angier is as real as the other, but my point still stands. Only ''one'' of these Angiers lived to set up the show and the one who survived was setting up his own suicide. Try putting yourself in his shoes and maybe you'll see what I'm getting at. "Let me boot up Tesla's machine for the first time... Aha! I now see how the machine functions! I remain inside the machine while a duplicate of me is created some distance away. I know this because I'm alive and I shot the duplicate. Now, how am I going to set up this trick? I know! I shall put a trap door under the machine that drops the Angier in the machine into a water tank, where he will drown in agony. But I just verified that my consciousness stays with the man in the machine, so I'm setting up my own death." Or let me put this yet another way. Suppose Tesla informs Angier that one of the two copies that result from the machine is, in fact, real. One of them has a soul (or consciousness or what have you) and the other is just a collection of unthinking atoms in the void. Tesla does not know which copy is which. Angier steps into the machine and, from his perspective, he remains in the machine to shoot his soulless doppelganger. He says to himself, "Okay, now I know which one is real. My consciousness stays in the machine, the teleported Angier is just a soulless copy." Would it then make sense for Angier to set it up so that the man in the machine (the one with a soul) is killed on the first night of the act? And before you interject to say, "But Tesla told him they're both equivalent," Angier doesn't have evidence of this after testing the machine the first time. All he knows is that from his perspective, he stayed in the machine and the second Angier was another man.]]
44*** [[spoiler: That's the point: He was willing to commit suicide over and over again in order to receive the adulation of the audience. It was only later that he was willing to rationalize this bizarre act of self-murder by saying "no-one cares about the man in the box. Himself included.]]
45*** [[spoiler: Consider this, the first time, the "clone" says "no no don't!" and then gets shot. I took this to mean that the "clone" is not a clone but the transported Angier, the clone sees that he is a clone and kills Angier taking over his spot, then every performance he is the one transported and kills the new clone.]]
46*** While that makes Angier seem mega-emo, I'll concede that it's the best explanation. Now ''that's'' devotion!
47** Where in the movie do they say that the machine creates soulless copies? I know that's how it sort of worked in the book, but the movie doesn't bring it up. [[spoiler:Angier doesn't know whether he'll be the man coming out or the man drowning because there is absolutely no difference. For all he knew, the machine teleported the original some distance away and left a copy in its place, which would mean the original Angier survived to the very end of the movie after murdering himself nearly a hundred times. Remember that the teleported Angier would have no difference in perspective from the not-teleported Angier.]]
48*** I never suggested that the machine truly makes soulless copies, I was just using that point as a hypothetical to illuminate my argument. [[spoiler:Put yourself in Lord Caldlow's shoes (at the end of the film). Lord Caldlow's memories would indicate that when he first turned on the machine, he stayed in the machine and shot his clone. ''Every subsequent time'' (during the performances, dozens of nights) he was the transported man. From his own perspective, after the first time he used the machine, he stayed put, but at his first performance, he kills the man on the stage. Either he, as the man on stage, is ensuring his own death every night, or (perhaps equivalently), he is duplicating his consciousness, dying dozens of deaths with only one surviving Angier. Just because the surviving Angier doesn't perceive them firsthand doesn't mean they aren't his deaths.]]
49*** Regardless of which [[spoiler:Angier was "real," the Angier consciousness that lives believes the machine is teleporting himself and leaving a copy, which is why he tanks the machine!Angier. Why he thinks that is the real question. Perhaps it's because he is under the assumption that Tesla built him a teleporting machine since that's what he asked for. While he knew the alpha version of the machine made clones, he probably assumed that bug was worked out, but just in case, prior to his first test he leaves the gun nearby on the off chance that something goes wrong. Once he creates a clone, both think they're the real Angier. Teleported!Angier shouts out that he's the real one because he thinks as much. Machine!Angier shoots because it's clear one is going to die, however this interaction instills enough doubt to make him believe he's the clone. Upon first performing the trick and drowning himself, the newly created teleported!Angier retains the consciousness and cements the idea that he's teleporting himself. After so many performances, though, he realizes he can never be sure, but at that point he's too afraid to try anything different, which is why he says he doesn't know if he'll be teleported or end up in the box.]]
50** Who said he just test one time before making the drowning plan? [[spoiler: It's showed one time on screen, but he can had made a few more tests, such as creating a copy in a cage and interviewing the copy to know what memories he has and how he feels after the copying. ]]
51** Consider this: [[spoiler: the first time Angier used the machine he didn't know which one was the original and which one was the copy. That's where the doubt comes from. Did the clone kill the real Angier or did the real Angier kill the clone? Was he the man in the box (machine) or the man standing some feet away? In the end it doesn't matter, because the original Angier died, he either was shot by the clone that first time he tried the machine, or he killed himself when he implemented the trick with the box and drowned himself. In the end the real Angier was no more.]]
52*** It's more than that. [[spoiler: If the duplicates are in fact perfect copies containing the thoughts and memories of the originals, then it doesn't even matter which one was killed each time. The original ''body'' of Angier was indeed killed either by being shot or being drowned, but this is irrelevant to the continued existence of Angier ''the person'', regardless of how many times he died. If the consciousness is all that matters when defining one's identity then in essence, and I know this sounds contradictory, despite the dozens of times an Angier died in that tank he didn't ''really'' die until that final, fatal, gunshot. It's trivial which one was the "real" Angier, because if you ask whether it was the man in the box or the prestige, the closest answer is [[MathematiciansAnswer "yes"]].]] It's just another bit of misdirection, in the end.
53** And all that's assuming that [[spoiler: ''either one'' of them is the "original". For all we know, the device might even '''destroy''' the original outright, instantaneously creating ''two'' copies, one in the same spot and one a short distance away. In which case, the whole second half of the film isn't the "real" Angier acting out vengeance for his wife, but clone after clone after clone acting out the legacy of bitterness and spite that their long-dead progenitor saddled them with over a woman ''none of them had ever even met''.]]
54** There is no point in talking of [[spoiler:the "original Angier" and the "clone Angier". Since they're both identical, in body as well as in spirit; they both have the same memories and the same personality. The Angier that was inside the Faraday cage, the first time he duplicated himself, said "no, no, don't!" before being shot to death, simply because he had the same will to keep living as the Angier that was outside the cage and near the gun he had prepared. They both had the will to live, because they're the same person, down to their very minds. Angier A and Angier B are completely identical in every aspect, so they're both Angier. That's what Tesla said about the hats; "they're ALL your hats". And THAT is why his assert, "I never knew if I would be transported or would fall to my death" is pointless. He both survives and dies at the end of his Transported Man act. You might say he made a UsefulNotes/SchrodingersCat out of himself.]]
55
56* How long have [[spoiler:the Borden twins been sharing a life?]]
57** [[spoiler: Clearly they've been posing as each other for at least as long as they've been professional magicians, but when did they start? They can't have been pretending to be one person all their lives, children wouldn't have had the patience or the planning skills to manage it, so they must have started somewhere in their early teens at the earliest. Let's say they started pretending to be one person at fourteen, someone must have known them as twin children, even if they were orphans they must have had some friend or casual acquaintance who would have noticed one of them was "gone". Before they adopted the "Fallon" disguise, did one of them just hide somewhere while the other lived their life? Come to think of it, since they must have shared jobs as well, how did two men survive on one man's wages in Victorian London?]]
58** [[spoiler:They probably started living as one person once they decided to enter the world of the magicians. So...mid-to-late teens at the earliest. And who says anyone had to have known them? Orphaned children especially weren't exactly known for staying put in one place in Victorian times. Maybe they originally came from somewhere else and travelled to London a la Literature/OliverTwist. Or maybe they claimed one twin died (again, hardly uncommon in Victorian London). Both twins seem to be fairly adept at disguises so it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to conclude that they ''both'' lived their lives with one just pretending to be someone else (an early "Fallon" perhaps) whenever they needed to do so. That would also explain the living costs. Maybe one had a separate job under a different name for a time so they were both earning money until they could survive by merging lives.]]
59
60* Why didn't they just unlock the tank [[spoiler:while Julia was drowning]]? Compared to the ax, it's faster, more reliable, and still doesn't spoil the trick's secret.
61** Would it be faster than the axe? Fumbling around with a key, especially when you're panicking, can take a surprisingly long time.
62*** Yeah, but it was a trick lock anyway. You could always pull out any old key (or, since these are skilled magicians we're talking about, mime it with your empty hands) and pop the lock without the audience noticing the difference.
63** The tank was 10 feet tall, and [[spoiler:Julia was drowning and had her hands and feet tied]]. How would unlocking the tank have helped? [[spoiler:Julia couldn't have helped herself out by that point]], and they would have needed to drag over a ladder for anyone else to do anything about it, assuming anyone was physically fit enough to even help with a ladder.
64** If none of them were capable of jumping and pulling themselves up and getting on top of the tank, they are in some sad shape.
65*** The tank was ''10 feet tall''. Not to mention the fact that the width of the joint at the top obviously wouldn't provide any kind of leverage whatsoever for either of them to be able to lift [[spoiler:Julia out without either a) falling in themselves or b) dropping her either back in the tank or on the floor (remember what Cutter said about that resulting in a broken leg at least?) or even c) pulling the tank over and potentially killing her (and whoever was helping) that way. They probably timed how long Julia could theoretically last underwater before the trick was ever performed, hence Cutter timing the trick and the others getting worried when she didn't reappear within a given amount of time so they had the axe as a standby. And also Angier especially wouldn't have particularly cared about keeping the trick secret at the cost of Julia's life. Hell, he'd probably have smashed the glass himself if Cutter hadn't already been on it. The axe was by far the most efficient method they had; it even seemed as though they got through the glass literally ''just after'' she died.]] Really the only truly questionable thing about the process was why Cutter was left to smash the glass when either Borden or Angier were younger and (presumably) stronger and therefore might have accomplished it sooner.
66** The ''real'' question is, why wasn't the tank constructed to have some kind of sealable tap at the bottom, so they could drain the water out lickety-split in an emergency? They'd need to empty it out regularly in any case, because it'd be way, ''way'' too heavy to move easily when it's full of water. So why not include a big sluice valve in the tank's base?
67
68* When the water tank trick went wrong, why didn't Cutter stop the trick in time to [[spoiler:save Angier's wife?]] He seemed to be timing it to gauge whether he should intervene, so why didn't he intervene before [[spoiler:she drowned]]? If his timing wasn't based on how long [[spoiler:she could go without drowning]], what WAS it based on?
69** My guess is that it was how long it normally took her to get out of there. If she took too long, then that means something had gone wrong.
70** An even better solution: Why didn't the curtain merely hide the audience from seeing her use her escape trick and let Cutter (from backstage) watch her for some kind of sign that she can't get free?
71*** Because then the trick would have been ruined. In order for Cutter to see her, the tank would have to not be entirely enclosed, which would make the audience doubt her ability to escape on her own.
72** We can assume that everyone trusted that Julia could do this trick that she was used to performing hundreds if not thousands of times - and that if there were precautions for if something went wrong, no one was really expecting anything to because she had done the trick so many times. Sadly he may have been thinking of the sake of the performance - say he panics and rushes in to help when it turns out she's fine, that will ruin the whole show and possibly cost them business through bad word of mouth.
73
74* Several sequences in the film depend on either Angier or Borden picking the other out of the audience as a volunteer. What are the odds that even the most enthusiastic volunteer will get picked?
75** Pretty good, when the volunteer is a magician and knows how to force a choice. Besides, we don't see every show they do, just the ones where one or the other gets picked; those are the only ones that matter to the story. The one with Borden messing up Angier's bird trick does seem to be on the night Angier's new show debuts. But other than that, the shows could be anywhere in the relevant magician's run, and there's no need for us to see every time the other one tries to get picked and fails.
76** In the bullet-catching trick, Angier essentially volunteered himself (the rest of the audience was too busy laughing at Borden). For the transported man trick, remember that [[spoiler:Angier was trying to frame Borden for his own murder, so he would have been ''looking'' for Borden in the audience]]. Only the bird trick relied on pure coincidence.
77*** Actually if you watch the volunteer selection during the bird trick, Angier says that he'll need two volunteers. Olivia points to two people, but ''three'' people stand up - the woman and two men. Borden wasn't chosen as a volunteer but he stood up anyway and started up on stage, figuring the other audience member would just back off.
78** This troper believes that although the movie shows that the rival was that coincidentally chosen for every new trick to ruin it, it could actually have been the 3rd or 4th or some whimsical n-th attempt of the trick. After all, we are shown segments and not a linear portrayal of the chronology of the movie. They could have very well been attempting to get chosen/pick for over 20 times for all we know.
79** ^ This. We're shown the characters reading each other's journals rather than a literal progression of every event. There were loads of other performances that aren't shown because they're not relevant to the plot. We're only shown ones where something significant happened.
80
81* Once Tesla had [[spoiler:successfully built the cloning device for Angier, how hard could it have been to modify it into being an actual teleporting machine? That is, after creating the clone, the machine immediately zaps the man in the machine to destroy him. It would have then worked in the manner that Angier requested, would have made things much easier for Angier given his purposes, and I'm sure a scientist who had the ability to make a cloning device could manage something that destroyed the original. Tesla himself says that nothing is impossible, and if he can create matter (what the machine does is even more complicated than that), he can certainly destroy it. Or are we led to believe Tesla probably had this planned, but then got attacked by Edison and had to give what he had to Angier before bolting?]]
82** Tesla probably realized that [[spoiler:the machine was making actual copies, not just soulless bodies. At this point, to implement some sort of copy-remover would be knowingly murdering a person. Further, there's no way for Tesla to really know which copy is "real," so killing one may lead to killing Angier the moment he steps into the machine. While this isn't the machine Angier requested, he did advise Angier to destroy it, probably because he just didn't want to/didn't have time to deal with the ethics of the machine.]]
83** [[spoiler:Tesla may very well have been pursuing that as an upgrade, however Edison and his goons forced him to quickly package up the working prototype and abandon his lab. He even leaves a note begging for Angier to destroy the machine because he knows what he'll do with it.]]
84** [[spoiler:Tesla's words about science essentially working in no less mysterious ways than magic also hint that he himself might not have enough control over the machine to effect that precise a change in its modus operandi.]]
85
86* Is Cutter aware of how Angier's trick works? The movie seems to indicate that he does. He agrees to explain to the judge how the trick works, and he wants to destroy the machine. But he can't know, otherwise he'd know Borden was innocent.
87** He ''thought'' he knew. I'm guessing his understanding was that the machine's sole function was teleportation, and that Borden killed Angier by rigging a trap door and somehow sabotaging the teleportation mechanism. I don't think he realized the machine made copies until he found himself in Angier's storage area at the end of the film.
88*** But there is a scene of Cutter watching the blind stage hands moving one of the dead Angier tanks away. He looks like he is about to cry so he must know something is up. It is at the 1:44:20 mark. Also, Cutter tells Caldlow that drowning is agony. Why would he say that if he didn't know?
89*** IIRC, Cutter saw Angier overseeing the tank's transportation, and Angier told Cutter to leave. Cutter didn't know the exact mechanics until he saw Angier alive under the Lord Caldlow persona, at which point he realized what had been going on. The "It was agony" line was Cutter's last to Angier.
90
91* So Borden is in prison for killing Angier. Cutter knows Borden is going to be hanged. When he sees that Angier is still alive, why doesn't he at least try to stop Borden from being executed?
92** Maybe he tried and just didn't reach the prison in time. Cutter's old.
93** Borden was likely already dead, or on his way to the hangman's rope. It's not clear where Borden is being kept or where Caldlow's estate is, but Borden was definitely already sentenced to death when he sees his daughter and 'Fallon'.
94** He's also ''Lord'' Caldlow. Through the legal channels, it's only the word of a poor carnival worker against aristocracy. Cutter wouldn't have had a chance.
95
96* Something that just struck me upon reading the Characters page: Fallon, Borden's associate, is [[spoiler: Borden's twin played by Christian Bale in a pair of spectacles ''and a fatsuit''. Christian Bale can pull this off today using makeup, prosthetics, and some clever camera work/CGI, but would ''Fallon'' be able to do the same thing--and then substitute perfectly for Borden if he's noticeably overweight?]] It gives new meaning to Borden's snarky line: "He vanishes, and then he reappears instantly on the other side of the stage - mute, overweight, and unless I'm mistaken, very drunk. It's astonishing, how does he do it?"
97** [[spoiler:Neither twin is overweight, which can be seen during the montage of them together near the end of the film. A fat waistline is simple enough to fake by stuffing something in your shirt (and how Fallon manages the fatty cheeklines is also shown in that montage).]]
98** And in real life, they don't have that many friends and acquaintances except for Sarah, and you never see her and Fallon talking (and it's hinted she may have figured it out eventually). Olivia likewise doesn't seem to have much interaction with Fallon - so the brothers may have been careful to never let anyone be around them for too long to potentially figure it out.
99
100* Does Angier [[spoiler:create a new timeline]] every time he uses the machine? How does the machine [[spoiler:get enough of the right molecules to make another Angier]]?
101** No timelines get split, created or destroyed in the movie. The machine works by duplicating Angier's body, which includes his brain: the location of all his memories, consciousness, thoughts and feelings. As for the matter itself, it probably works on the same principle as the replicators/transporters on ''Star Trek''.
102
103* Who is the old man in the basement?
104** Do you mean [[https://42thriller2013.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/picture_9-scaled1000.png this guy]] (warning: the image is a little creepy if you're not expecting it)? He's a stagehand that Angier hired specifically for his blindness--that way he can't see what's going on with the drowning tanks.
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106* Did [[spoiler: the "good" twin]] also have an affair with Olivia? Or was he completely loyal to [[spoiler: Sarah]]?
107** He was [[spoiler:also having an affair by necessity of their "two people one life" trick.]]
108** Notice when Olivia tries to cosy up to him, he looks uncomfortable and rebuffs her slightly. So one twin was loyal in the sense that he never actually slept with both women.
109
110* [[spoiler: Which twin]] was really responsible for Angier's wife Julia's death?
111** Answering both of these questions together: it's never stated in the film, but it's argued over on the Fridge page--and convincingly so--that [[spoiler:Fallon was the one who tied the Langford Double, killing Julia, and had the affair with Olivia. Borden stayed faithful to Sarah (he actually begs Fallon to help him out in repairing his marriage) and fathered Jess. Fallon ''did'' try to save Angier, though, during the drowning trick, and was the one arrested and hanged in the end while Borden walks away free.]] Of course, like Angier's situation above, [[spoiler:the twins had been sharing one life for so long that any "who's who" questions become academic at a certain point.]]
112** [[spoiler: Borden's diary was written by Freddy, the twin who didn't love Sarah and who didn't know which knot was used on Julia. Which means that Langford Double was tied by the other twin, the one who truly loved Sarah.]]
113*** How do we know they didn't take turns on the diary though, like they took turns at everything else?
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115* This is what bugs me from the moment I learned that [[spoiler: Borden and Fallon are twins sharing the life]]. I can understand that [[spoiler:they would like to do that equal-time so that no one would feel pushed into obscurity not able to live his own life]]. But near the end [[spoiler:one of the twin loves his wife while another loves Olivia. Both have to spend time with women they don't love, ruining their brother's relationship. Not only that but it's hinted that because of that Sarah becomes aware of the ruse.]] For me the obvious solution is to [[spoiler:drop the equal-time system and choose roles depending on with whom are you going to spend the time with! Of course it may not be possible to always safely exchange roles and probably they should sometimes do it wrong. But as a result, instead of the guy who half a time is a jerk to everyone, they could create one that's loving and caring for the majority of the time. Sure, he still cheats, but his relationship with both women could go much less dramatic, to the point when his wife could accept it (like "The affair with that woman helps him control his jerkish side") It may be less fair, but wouldn't it bring more happiness for both of them?]]
116** Considering the way love is (a person usually wants to spend more time with their loved one than someone who doesn't love that person), this probably IS how they spent their time. Borden A with Sarah and Borden B with Olivia. The scenes that we see with the Borden B being with Sarah and causing her hurt and psychological trauma, because he didn't love her, were probably key scenes on days that absolutely necessitated Borden B being at home with Sarah for some reason. This troper hasn't rewatched the film after seeing the twist, but can only recall one scene where Borden A was near Olivia at all and was basically pushing her away in hurt over what this was doing to Sarah. Also, it wasn't just the cheating that hurt Sarah so much. Sarah [[spoiler:kills herself]] because she can't stand "the lies".
117** This contention is supported by the fact that Jess (and Sarah, if I remember correctly) are mildly surprised that he forgot about the zoo, while, if they had really spent the time as each other strictly evenly, he should have "forgotten" things pretty often (even if the twins had a thorough discussion of every day's events with each other); this "forgetfulness", however, never gets even a throwaway mention from either Sarah or Olivia.
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119* Would Julia truly have died in the amount of time it took Cutter to break her out? The time frame in between her clearly losing consciousness and Cutter successfully smashing the glass (giving Julia access to air) is maybe a few seconds.
120** Yes. The average person struggling in the water can hold their breath 30-60 seconds before they breathe water and fall unconscious (I am well aware it is possible to hold your breath significantly longer, I was a swimmer and could hold my breath for multiple minutes at the peak of my conditioning - but when actually struggling physically that cuts air time SIGNIFICANTLY, and she clearly screams at least once in the tank which uses up a LOT of air). Then remember, it's not just the time to break her out - it's the time before he runs onto the stage, PLUS how long it takes to break her out. He is holding a watch but it cuts from him to the magician so its not really clear exactly how long they waited, but it seemed like it was at least 60 seconds. Then another 30+ seconds to run over to the tank and successfully break it open. So we're talking 90+ seconds at least in the water, possibly more, while physically struggling and screaming. Then remember this is Victorian London - they have no idea what CPR or resuscitation are. If she breathed water and was unconscious its highly unlikely they would have been able to revive her. So technically she wouldn't be dead-dead when she was broken out of the tank but she would have almost certainly died a couple minutes later.
121*** To be fair, they had ''some'' idea about CPR and resuscitation in Victorian London, but an outdated one by today's standards.
122
123* Possible PlotHole at Angier’s demonstration of “The Real Transported Man” for Mr. Ackerman. When Angier steps into the machine, he simply vanishes and is transported as opposed to having copies of himself- as the machine did literally every other time it was used. How did this discrepancy come about?
124** I went back and rented the movie on Website/YouTube specifically to watch this scene, and the rest of the movie. I ''think'' the idea is that every time there's a bright flash of lightning that hides Angier dropping down into the tank, but... in the movie it's a really quick flash of light, and Hugh Jackman is 6'2"--if he dropped straight down from the stage, it would take longer than the blink of an eye to fully conceal him. It's especially apparent in the Ackerman demonstration, where we see the bottom of the machine the entire time and there's no trapdoor movement. He really does just blip out of existence. The only thing I can think of is that this might be a (very, ''very'' rare for Christopher Nolan) case of SpecialEffectsFailure.
125** I think the implication here is that the original design included a very good and discrete trapdoor, one so well concealed that Angier seemingly just disappears into thin air. Then when Ackerman is visibly disturbed and asks for a little toning down, Angier starts using a more obvious and visible trapdoor, one that any savvy viewer would notice, like Borden does at the first chance. People like to be amazed, but not terrified, and in this case us, the viewers, work as the public here, not liking a version of the trick that is so amazing it becomes unbelievable.
126** In addition to the above, remember that Angier ''wants'' Borden to partially clue into how the trick works, so he'll be compelled to sneak backstage and get framed for murdering him. Switching out a perfect trap door with one that a sharp-eyed person like Borden can notice maximizes his chances of piqueing Borden's interest enough to be found with him in the tank.
127* Angier's statement that he never knew if he was going to be the person transported or the person drowned in the tank make no sense if you look at it from this perspective. When he first went through the machine, he killed the other version of himself. Whether that was the clone or the original doesn't matter. Afterwards, when he performed the trick, it doesn't make a difference which one drowned. Whichever one ended up transported would ''never'' have any memories of drowning, so from their perspective, they're ''always'' the one transported. ''Always.'' To him, the trick is perfectly safe for him, because he's ''never'' the one in the tank. He's transported, he never drowns, the alternate version drowns, and the show goes on. Sure, the one in the tank is going through a massive OhCrap, but the one transported thinks he's ''never'' the one to drown and that it's always the copy who drowns.
128** True, but what he meant is probably that he doesn't even know if he's "original" Angier or a copy of a copy of a copy...
129
130* Why did the writer(s) use a real person (Tesla) as a character in an otherwise fictitious story, especially considering his main role was to invent a totally nonexistent machine? Wouldn't it have made more sense to create a fake character that was heavily based on Tesla?

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