REVIEW - The Illusionist

By Felix Lowe

Dir: Neil Burger
Starring: Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti, Jessica Biel, Rufus Sewell
110 minutes

*

SPORTING a sinister goatee that makes him the spit of mind-manipulator Derren Brown, the usually brilliant Edward Norton goes through the motions as Eisenheim, a low-born but worldly-wise Viennese illusionist. Having impressed in his youth the aristocratic Sophie (a wooden Jessica Biel) with his uncanny knack of balancing eggs and making balls disappear, the two became sweethearts.

Years on, Eisenheim must deliver his biggest magical coup in trying to steal the object of his affection from her drunken fiancé, the boo-hiss villain Crown Prince Leopold of Austria (played by Rufus Sewell, the film’s saving grace). Paul Giamatti (Sideways) provides ubiquitous narration and manages to get his bearded face into virtually every scene as the chief of police in charge of a mystical murder case that involves them all.

The Illusionist suffers from being released just three months after The Prestige, another (far superior) film about turn-of-the-century magicians. Less forgivable is the film’s preposterous over-reliance on its surprise ending. So contrived and flimsy is this twist that it is worthy of director M Night Shyamalan. Instead the film is the work of debut director Neil Burger, whose only redemption is that he doesn’t know any better.

But for the final thirty seconds, this tired, dated, will-they-won’t-they love story serves absolutely no purpose except delivering for its PG certificate. With its toned down dialogue, prudish sex scene, and comical period dress, this could easily be a children’s TV drama. The twist adds momentary excitement and gives the rest of the film some kind of point. But any film that relies on retrospective appreciation is gasping for air. Maybe a more apt title would have been The Disillusionist.