20 Things You Didn't Know About The Prestige

19. The Conflict Of The Movie Is Spelled Out In The Opening Two Shots

The Prestige opening shot black hats
Warner Bros. Pictures

The Prestige is littered with subtle hints that foreshadow its twist ending, from the young boy at the magic show asking "where's his brother?" to Sarah Borden (Rebecca Hall) telling husband Alfred (Christian Bale) that she knows what he really is.

But one that a lot of people don't pick up on is the fact that the first two shots of the film literally spell out its central conflict. After the company logos, the first thing we see is a load of black top hats lying in a forest, which is instantly followed up by a shot of two birds chirping in a cage.

The Prestige opening scene birds
Warner Bros. Pictures

The many, many hats are a nod to the many, many clones that Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) uses to try and best Borden's trick, while the two identical birds are a reference to the fact that Borden is actually a twin.

Clones versus twins. Clearly illustrated by the first two shots of the film. Round of applause for Mr. Nolan.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!