SPOILER

Just finished wathcing The Prestige tonight and reading all the insightful posts about Nolan's films here (I'll get to my problems with Inception after the DVD release, Memento rocks.) Please forgive wrong/misspelled character names.

Back on point, did read one post mentioning how Cutter knows about the Borden twins from the start. I think it's fairly obvious since Cutter isn't surprised at all when the live Borden comes to collect his daughter at the end. He never tells Borden's secret and lets Angier go off with his obsession. But, a point I haven't seen discussed here, I also think Cutter knows more about Angier's secret (machine) than he lets on, or at least I'm confused about what Cutter knows and when.

Towards the beginning of the movie, Cutter gives the judge a tour of Angier's workshop, and says of the cloning machine, "It's too dangerous ... it's real." I assume here he knows exactly what it is, and it is chronologically before Borden is convicted (the judge is still trying to figure out what exactly happened that night.) Cutter seems concerned for the machine's destruction, then meets Lord Cordlough and acts surprised that it's Angier: "How is it you're still alive!?" (post-conviction.) It seems to me that Cutter is playing dumb with Angier here. But, why? I guess this makes Cutter a kind-of-omniscient character who aids both rivals in killing each other, or at least doesn't stop them from doing so. Trying to fit Cutter in thematically somehow, I guess he recognizes that the rivals' obsessions have already destroyed them and just lets it play out.

I would appreciate any feedback if I've got my sequence of events wrong, or if you see how Cutter 'fits in' in a better way than I've come up with.

From memory, Cutter said..

It would work that Cutter finds out the secrets at more or less the same time the audience does, but it would still bother me that he is so intent on destroying the machine without seeing it work. We see Cutter snooping around and Angier tells him something like, "I don't want you backstage on this one." To me (speculative, I know,) Cutter's curious and figures out what's going on after the show every night, that the crew hauls away a dead clone. Also, he just watches Borden watch an Angier die, instead of trying to help like he does with his stopwatch and axe earlier. Either way, he does nothing to stop Borden's execution once he knows the truth. Significant? I dunno.

SPOILER

I'm pretty much with Jason on this one. This is how I see it:

When Cutter initially hears about Bordens Transported Man trick, he assumes it's a double. I don't think he knows that Borden has a twin at this point.

In addition, when Angier starts using the Real Transported Man trick, Cutter believes it to be a teleporter of sorts and views it as real magic. I don't think he knew it was a clone machine.

Up until the end, Cutter has been on Angiers side of things (besides not going to America with him). When Cutter realizes that Angier is alive and an innocent man will hang, he no longer cares for Angier and sides with Borden.

While this part is conjecture, I'm thinking that Cutter may have gone to see Fallon upon learning of Bordens innocence (knowing Fallon was Bordens ingénieur). It was maybe here that Fallon explained to Cutter that they were twins, but we can't be sure.

This would explain why Cutter pretty much turned a blind eye when he saw Fallon approaching the stagehouse Angier was in. (I believe he even nodded to him.) He probably knew what Fallon was going to do, but decided to let it happen. Then he waited for Fallon (or rather the Borden twin) to come pick up the girl. Assuming Fallon did explain to Cutter about being twins, this would fit with why Cutter did not seem surprised.

Just how I view it.

As for Cutter not being surprised by Borden showing up at the end, he has spent much of his life around magicians, I doubt anything surprised him anymore.

I think when they show Borden with Cutter at the end, Borden has already revealed the situation to Cutter beforehand, and we're just not shown this on screen. This explains why Cutter shows no surprise.

Well, part of the reason I registered here was that, with good movies, it's often as much about what we don't see as what we do. We have to fill in the gaps ourselves as an audience. I've obviously made some risky assumptions, but I think others have as well (valid as they may be,) such as:

Jason wrote:Cutter must have then made contact with Borden and been told the truth about his brother. They then planned for him to look after the daughter and wait for him to collect her.

totally plausible, but pure assumption, like my assessment

Jason wrote:I also think that [Cutter] believed that the Real Transported Man machine was real. He believed that this knew technology really could transport one man from one place to another. He believed that Borden sabotaged the machine and placed the tank under the stage to kill Angier

Maybe I'm splitting hairs here, but during his testimony in court, Cutter says, "Borden must have placed [the tank] under the trap door." He doesn't say anything about sabotaging the machine. This is before he tells the judge in Angier's workshop that the machine is "real." I think this helps to show Cutter knows the machine isn't a real transporter, and that it is a real cloner. Why would a real transporter need a trap door? (Obviously we know the truth, but Cutter still doesn't at this point, according to most posts.) And, why, even if he did think it was a real transporter before he learned it had a trap door, does he later say it is "real" to the judge? No way Cutter can assume Borden sabotaged the machine (why it didn't transport him to the balcony) AND put in a trap door (the only reason he would've fallen through if the machine is a real transporter;) Cutter knows the truth.

Another scene of interest is when Cutter is with Angier during the trial run of 'The Real Transported Man' for the financier. Cutter's not curious at all how it really works? He blindly accepts Angier's word that it is 'real magic' (even though they don't talk about it on screen?) If yes, then y'all are starting to make sense. If no, maybe my earlier point about Cutter's nosiness gets a little credence.

You all make good points and honestly, I'm more up in the air about it than I was a week ago. But, the scene where Cutter talks to the judge in Angier's workshop is a little too cryptic for me to accept Cutter purely at face value. Maybe I just want to be fooled.

TLSanderson wrote: [Cutter] just watches Borden watch an Angier die, instead of trying to help like he does with his stopwatch and axe earlier.

P.S. I was wrong, this didn't happen as I thought.^^

Double posting, I know, but I hope it's worth it. I can see trying to hash out the possibilities of every unseen event in the plot isn't going to get us anywhere. And, I must admit, my first couple posts here were minimal, unexplained. Let me try the argument from a different angle. I'd like to try a magic trick, if you will. Please, bear with me.

I'm not a professional storyteller, but some have told me a tenant of storytelling is, "a purpose for every scene." We have to ask ourselves what the purpose of some of these scenes is.

In the resolution of any story, when the truth is all coming together for the audience, when the twists and surprises are revealed and conflicts reconciled, each shot of every scene, or each word on the page, is charged in a way to be more telling, more impactful; the resolution is the payoff for earlier scenes. It is the prism through which to view the entire story. The subtle nod Cutter gives the live Borden when he picks up his child SCREAMS that Cutter knows more than we've been led to believe. To dismiss it as simply tying up a loose end is a disservice to the film. What is the purpose of that shot, then? The idea that Cutter knows more than he's telling is one of the resolution's prisms.

Are you still with me?

We see Cutter in the scenes that show Angier preparing for and cleaning up after "The Real Transported Man." Cutter's there, with his watchful eye, as the blind stagehands haul away full tanks of water. What's the purpose? To foreshadow that something sinister is going on after hours? Then, why is Cutter there? He knows more than he lets on. Later, Angier tells Cutter it will be his last show. Cutter asks, "last show?" Why? He's more perceptive than us.

Are you watching closely?

The scenes with the judge become more ominous with the idea of Cutter's unseen knowledge in mind. Perhaps he omits the whole truth or outright perjures himself in court. What is the purpose of the scene where Cutter tells the judge, "[the machine] ... is dangerous ... it's real"? On the surface, we're being told the machine is wizardry, not magic, but the real deal. But, through our prism, we question his honesty. He may be trying to trick us. Maybe it is real magic, but not in the way we think. "The trick is," after all, "giving them reason to doubt it."

Look through the prism, what do you see? / Real magic is as simple as ABC.

First, the pledge. Full of good intentions. Honest, loving, righteous.
Next, the turn. Precision is key, even if you have to get your hands dirty.
Finally, the prestige. To bring it all back.
ABC. Angier, Borden, Cutter.

I do agree that Cutter knows more than us, but I think it is more assumptions on his part then actually knowing all the answers for sure. From the beginning he knows that Borden uses a double. And yes he is curious as to the magic of the machine and begins to understand the truth behind the trick. He is an intelligent guy and knows his magic so it wouldn't be that hard for him to piece part of the stuff together.

TLSanderson wrote: Maybe I'm splitting hairs here, but during his testimony in court, Cutter says, "Borden must have placed [the tank] under the trap door." He doesn't say anything about sabotaging the machine. This is before he tells the judge in Angier's workshop that the machine is "real." I think this helps to show Cutter knows the machine isn't a real transporter, and that it is a real cloner. Why would a real transporter need a trap door? (Obviously we know the truth, but Cutter still doesn't at this point, according to most posts.) And, why, even if he did think it was a real transporter before he learned it had a trap door, does he later say it is "real" to the judge? No way Cutter can assume Borden sabotaged the machine (why it didn't transport him to the balcony) AND put in a trap door (the only reason he would've fallen through if the machine is a real transporter;) Cutter knows the truth.

Another scene of interest is when Cutter is with Angier during the trial run of 'The Real Transported Man' for the financier. Cutter's not curious at all how it really works? He blindly accepts Angier's word that it is 'real magic' (even though they don't talk about it on screen?) If yes, then y'all are starting to make sense. If no, maybe my earlier point about Cutter's nosiness gets a little credence.

Sure we might be splitting hairs, but I enjoy the conversation.

With Cutter, I see two standpoints; both of which require off-screen conjecture to prove.

Personally, I still believe that Cutter was in the dark about the true nature of the "Real Transported Man" up until he meets Lord Caldlow. Here are the quotes from the two scenes you are referring to:

Cutter to the judge in court: "No, sir. The tank had been used for the first trick, then taken offstage. Borden must have put it under the trap door after the interval."

Now this comment has us believe that Cutter doesn't know how the trick is done, since he is on the stand testifying against Borden. Now he can be lying in court, but if he indeed does understand that the machine can clone Angier, wouldn't he think that maybe it was just a clone who died? Or that there could be dozens of Angiers still out there?

Plus, in the conversation with Cutter and Lord Caldlow at the end:

"How are you alive, Robert?! I saw you on the slab, for God's sake."
"I came here tonight to beg Lord Caldlow to let me destroy that machine. But I won't beg you for anything."

Cutter is obviously surprised that Angier is still alive, so this proves that he definite thought Angier was dead. But then his second comment shows his understanding that the machine is capable of real magic, hence why he wants’ it destroyed.

Looking at those two comments combined, we know Cutter understands the machine can do real magic and we know that he is surprised to see an Angier clone. To me, this equates to Cutter understanding that the machine can do real magic, but doesn't fully understand it's a clone machine. This is why I believe he only sees it as a transporter. This would explain why he believes Angier truly died, and it explains why he thinks it's truly magical.

I'll end this with one last quote from when Ackerman saw Angier perform his trick in the empty stage house:

Ackerman to Angier and Cutter: "Pardon me. It's very rare to see ... real magic. It's been many years since I've seen..."

While the time period of the movie is after all the witch hunting that went on in the 1700's, I find it easy to believe that some people still truly believed in magic. Ackerman is seen to be one of these, so it's not a small step to think Cutter might be a believer as well.

Now yes, Cutter didn't seem shocked at the trick being real. That is a little washy, but maybe he had been shown the trick previously off-screen. I find it harder to believe that he would lie in court to send an innocent man to the gallows.

To summarize, I think Cutter knew something fishy was going on with the machine. Sure, he saw the tanks, but those were used at the beginning of the act, so he may not have pieced it together. Most likely, he thought the real magic occurred beneath the stage. He knew there was a trap door, but he could've believed something magical happened after Angier dropped beneath that transported him to the balcony. He would then view Borden as someone who interfered mid-trick by putting the tank in the way. This would explain why Cutter definitely thought Angier was dead and why he testified against Borden. It would also explain why he wanted the machine destroyed, since it's still real magic.

That's all for now, haha.