1. The Revelation Of The Transported Man (The Prestige)
It is easy to believe that The Prestige, based on Christopher Priest's novel of the same name, is Nolan's hidden masterpiece; a secret chef-d'uvre known only to his die hard fans and reserved exclusively for the true cinematic aficionado. This is simply not the case. Whilst its modest return at the box-office is dwarfed by that of TDKT, Inception and Interstellar, Nolan's Dickensian cat-and-mouse thriller is arguably his most thought-out and personal work to date. The rug-pull comes at a point in the film where Robert Angier is desperate to know the secret to rival magician Alfred Borden's trick, 'The Transported Man'. It is revealed that Borden used his twin as a body-double, a solution offered up by ingénieur John Cutter throughout the film, only to be repeatedly snubbed by Angier for being too simple. It substantiates Nolan's attitude towards magic and showmanship whilst also serving as a meta-reflection of his own experiences as a film-maker. This is what makes The Prestige's rug-pull Nolan's greatest - to quote John Cutter; "Now you're looking for the secret. But you won't find it because of course, you're not really looking. You don't really want to work it out. You want to be fooled". This can be applied as much to the audience watching his movie as the audiences watching the magicians on-screen. Nolan lays bare his twist, daring the audience to find it by his demonstrating his faith in the rule his characters live by; that an audience wants to be fooled. Of all his films, it is in The Prestige's complex, layered representation of its over-arching message that Nolan's conviction in his storytelling is most clear. The foundations of the film are built upon the commitment to the final reveal and it is in the confidence with which it is approached that makes this Nolan's finest rug-pull. How would you rank Nolan's twists? Share your favourite in the comments below.
