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THE ILLUSIONIST
Directed & Written by: Neil Burger, based on the short story “Eisenheim the Illusionist” by Steven Millhauser.
Produced by: Michael London, Brian Koppelman, David Levien, Bob Yari & Cathy Schulman.
Director of Photography: Dick Pope.
Edited by: Naomi Geraghty.
Music by: Philip Glass.
Released by: Yari Film Group.
Country of Origin: US. 110 min. Rated: PG-13.
With: Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti, Jessica Biel, Rufus Sewell & Aaron Johnson.

Edward (Edward Norton) and Sophie fell in love as children. He was the poor son of the furniture maker whose wares were sold to Viennese aristocrats, including the parents of the young duchess, Sophie (Jessica Biel). As you might suspect, their early love was never meant to be. After being torn from his young lover, he traveled the world and became an infamous magician. When he returns to atmospheric fin-de-siècle Vienna and has the chance opportunity to perform for Crown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell), he realizes the Prince’s betrothed is none other than his lost lady love. It also turns out that Prince Leopold is somewhat evil. Not only does he dislike democracy, but he also beats women! It’s up to Edward, now Eisenheim the Illusionist, to use his magic to save both the duchess and parliament.

With the help of cinematographer Dick Pope (Vera Drake), writer/director Neil Burger uses old film techniques like greased lenses, kaleidoscopes, and old-fashion scene transitions with a lush, contemporary color scheme, giving the film a surreal Guy Maddin aesthetic appearance. On top of that, Burger’s insistent reliance on real magic tricks creates some astonishing scenes with Eisenheim’s abilities, making the question of whether or not the illusionist truly has supernatural powers all the more interesting.

That said, every line of dialogue is ridiculous and labored. By the time Leopold starts waving around a pistol and warning that if Parliament remains in power then thousands of voices will cry out for action and no one will be heard, you can’t help but want that pistol to go off. The romance is as realistic as a fairy tale, which might have been worked if it wasn’t so melodramatic. And just for kicks, I would love to see a movie where people enjoy being rich and powerful for once. Why does every cinematic princess have to fall in love with stable boys, magicians, and beggars with flying carpets and despise the witty noblemen that court them?

In the press notes, Neil Burger (Interview with the Assassin) talks about the problems with turning Steven Millhauser’s short story into a screenplay. “The images and tone of it are quite cinematic, but the story itself is more of a fragment and somehow not a film.” He believes he fixed this by adding the characters of Sophie, Leopold and the Prince’s imperial guardsman and henchman, Chief Inspector Uhl (Paul Giamatti). I don’t. However, adding Uhl was definitely one of the better creative decisions. Giamatti brings an understandable pride to a character torn between his meager upbringing and the hope of a better social standing at the expense of his morals. Most of the film is viewed through either Uhl’s eyes or his imaginative conjectures, which bridges the central romance to Burger’s additional theme of democracy and the common man. On the other hand, maybe Sophie and Eisenheim would have made a better connection with the audience if their relationship had been shown to us from their perspective rather than through Uhl’s. Zachary Jones
August 18, 2006