@dafox,

I'd be interested in reading a detailed post on this. I've never been able to make sense of The Dark Knight but really enjoyed The Prestige and Inception. So I'd be curious if there's an interpretation to it that I'm missing.

Well... the magic tricks all disguise death and sacrifice in order to amaze us, and the death of the showgirl fits this general pattern. What I meant about the audience complicity thing is that The Prestige is self-referential in the sense that the film itself has a pledge, turn and prestige (the pr...

I didn't remember that line, but it certainly fits.

Yes. It's the organizing metaphor for the film. There are two sets of doubles (first the two magicians, and then the doubles within each set). In each case one dies so that the other can live. And then the same logic holds between the two sets. The film itself follows the structure of a magic act, c...

The names of the children are James and Philippa. James are Philip were Christian apostles, so the presence of the children at the end of the film ("on the cliff") but not in limbo (the mortal world/beach) supports reading the film as Cobb's real or imagined journey towards faith, with the ending in...

Re: "a house on a cliff".... Nolan has already said in an interview that this was just the kid improvising and they shot the scene several times with him saying different things. Since there was an architecture theme throughout the film, he thought the "I've been building a house on a cliff", seemed...

Not necessary on the narrative level, but water is thematically associated with the subconscious and through it with death. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BT1Za7dHxmM It isn't accidental Cobb sees Mal in the mirror while he's washing his face. And probably not accidental that it's a glass of water t...

Thanks for sharing the article. Suggest linking directly to it rather than your personal blog -- otherwise it will be tough for people to find your interpretation in the future as you keep posting. :) The traditional reading for the ocean is as representing the subconscious. This comes from both rem...

akd... just a supportive note. The strongest evidence for a religious reading of the film is its bookending with twin references to the parable of the wise and foolish builders (Matthew 7.24). Surprisingly, I don't think many people have noticed this. I put some thoughts online here if anyone is int...

Sorry, that was a typo: Matthew 7:24-27 (New International Version) "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not f...