Significance of the Bird Trick

The 2006 film about rival magicians desperately trying to learn the secrets of each others tricks.
Posts: 128
Joined: February 2011
MW715 wrote:
author wrote:OP:"Are there any other ways in which the bird trick holds significance in the film?"

I think Borden says it best, "Today, you're the lucky one."
This relates to Angier as to which one will live. Do we only care about the one who survives?
I haven't heard of anyone who cried when the first Angier double was shot.
However, when the bird trick is done and the little boy cries, it was very sad.
Worse yet, in the end, when the little daughter applauds, it is even sadder that she doesn't realize one just died.
(Some people think that he didn't kill that bird, but then you only need one or two, not several dozen birds.)
This is really what sets Angier up a failure. Look earlier in his career where they have that whole segment of him and Cutter trying to find a way to do that trick without killing the bird. Angier wants to master something great and to do it cleanly. As the story progresses, he obsession with Borden leads him on to the point where he no longer cares about killing the bird (himself). The epitomy of his success (the real transported man) was little more than a surrender to the methods he sought to avoid. IRONY!


Angier himself did not know who would be the lucky one. Since all of his clones had the same exact personality, they all had the same 'kill him before he kills me' mentality. Angier never knew if he would die or if he would be killed by his clone.

So, sometimes the clone was projected into the top of the theater, and sometimes the clone fell into the tank.
If it was really Angier who fell into the tank, then he was sacrificing himself for the sake of his trick, since having two Angiers could either spoil the trick or cause chaos.

Posts: 128
Joined: February 2011
I miss these kind of discussions. This is one of my favorite things in the Prestige.

Posts: 1
Joined: February 2018
Does anyone know if the Transported Man or Bird Trick have any precedents? IE were similar tricks done live and archived in some way? Trying to brush up on some magic trick history.

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