Who is Borden? Who is Fallon?

The 2006 film about rival magicians desperately trying to learn the secrets of each others tricks.
Raz
Posts: 2
Joined: December 2012
Can anybody answer me why they took turns???I can't seem to find a logical explanation.
I mean each of them could have their life with the woman they loved and when Fallon was needed one of the Bordens could dress himself up like him.Thing is,they took turns even BEFORE Olivia came to work for them.I cannot understand this.What did they gain by that?
I concluded that they were trying so desperately to 'merge' into one person and were so devoted,that each had to live the other's life in order to build the exact same character.This way the trick would be as perfect as possible,because they would be identical not only in apearrance but in character too.This is also shown in the diary which is written by both but seems to have been written by only one person.
Still though this explanation seems a little over the top to me.
Does anyone have a better idea?

Posts: 305
Joined: April 2010
they always wanted to share the glory in the prestige of the trick. they knew that if they ever intended on doing the Transported Man (which they always intended to perform, eventually) they couldn't have loose ends. them not taking turns before they performed the trick was a loose end.

Raz
Posts: 2
Joined: December 2012
That's a good explanation,but even if we suppose that they shared Angier's vanity,they could just take turns when was show time.

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Joined: September 2012
Location: bryant denny stadium
so does anyone know if it was the childs father who survived or the uncle. thats what i want to know.

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Joined: July 2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBDpcjkLOgk

In the above interview Bale talks about why he needed a chart to know how to play each timeline scene. I think he is hinting at the fact that he wanted to know which of the two brothers he was at each given time. As such I think that Bale acted each character in a different way, even if just internally.

Just thought it might fit this thread.

Posts: 5
Joined: August 2014
Location: India
Raz wrote:Can anybody answer me why they took turns???I can't seem to find a logical explanation.
I mean each of them could have their life with the woman they loved and when Fallon was needed one of the Bordens could dress himself up like him.Thing is,they took turns even BEFORE Olivia came to work for them.I cannot understand this.What did they gain by that?
I concluded that they were trying so desperately to 'merge' into one person and were so devoted,that each had to live the other's life in order to build the exact same character.This way the trick would be as perfect as possible,because they would be identical not only in apearrance but in character too.This is also shown in the diary which is written by both but seems to have been written by only one person.
Still though this explanation seems a little over the top to me.
Does anyone have a better idea?
Because one of them can not be the man who is always in the box, You can see angier is asking to borden in climax "are you the man who is in the box or the one come out of the box?"

He wanted to know that because he win if he framed the man who takes the prestige always. The value of the prestige to the magicians is very high. You can see that angier pretending to accept the prestige from the audience when he is understage and his double is on stage in transported man.
Likewise Borden asking to olivia "How did he feel about taking the prestige under the stage?" with a smile in his face. It means he also valued the prestige and he experiencing it onstage atleast by swiching their roles. that's what I saw

Posts: 2
Joined: March 2021
JFKES wrote:
January 14th, 2013, 5:12 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBDpcjkLOgk

In the above interview Bale talks about why he needed a chart to know how to play each timeline scene. I think he is hinting at the fact that he wanted to know which of the two brothers he was at each given time. As such I think that Bale acted each character in a different way, even if just internally.
I haven't watched your vid yet.

But I think a great strength of Bale's performance is, once you "know", on re-watches it's very clear which one he's playing. Almost every scene, about a minute in you know who is who.

I don't distinguish them as "Borden" and "Fallon". Obvsly they're both Borden, and Fallon is just disguise. I distinguish them as "Alfred" and "Freddie".
  • Alfred = "the nice one" = the one who loves Sarah.
  • Freddie = "the smart one" = the one who loves Olivia.
That nice/smart distinction is just shorthand: obviously they're both pretty smart; obviously they're both capable of being nice (esp to little Jess). I just use the words nice/smart to distinguish which parts of their personality are foremost. "Alfred" is warmer, a little softer. "Freddie" is more pugnacious, coarser. Freddie is the ingenieur of the pair, though of course they're both very capable.

Freddie goes to the performance of the Chinese magician, and tells Angier that "this" is the performance, when the magician pretends to be old & infirm as he gets into his carriage. Freddie ties the knot on Piper Perabo. Alfred goes to the funeral. It's Alfred who tells Angier that he doesn't know which knot he tied – he didn't tie it! He says that he's asked himself that a thousand times; he means that very literally. And by the way this tells us that Freddie is a liar. (Or rather, that Alfred thinks he is; and who would know better?) Clearly Freddie has told Alfred that he didn't tie the un-approved knot, and clearly Alfred doesn't believe Freddie; just as Angier doesn't believe it.

When Angier debuts his final version of the Transported Man, it's Alfred who yells at "Fallon", asking why he can't out-think Angier, and then finally saying "we're done". It's Freddie who investigates, and gets caught & later hanged. That's lucky; at least the one who survived to care for little Jess is the one who loved & married her mother.

Such a great movie!

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