A critic for a Viennese newspaper raves that the Eisenheim's work transcends mere sleight-of-hand and approaches the realm of art. So it does not seem like mere hyperbole when the magician's manager introduces him by invoking "the forces of the universe" -- life and death, space and time, fate and chance. Those are, indeed, the stuff that dreams -- and art, and illusions -- are made of.
If "The Illusionist" approaches the realm of art, its spell is heightened by a subtly mesmerizing Philip Glass score and cinematographer Dick Pope's flickering, sepia-tinted visuals, evoking early motion pictures and 19th century daguerreotypes. In the (imagined) scenes from Eisenheim's childhood, the edges of the frame blur into shadows, surrounding the picture with mystery. And as the movie peels back layers of its core conundrum, the images and their colors become clearer and brighter.
In the early days of movies, the novelty of photographic illusions wore off as audiences became accustomed to the conventions of the new medium. Filmmakers soon discovered perhaps the greatest cinematic special effect ever invented: the movie star. The human face, if it's the right human face, can be the most spellbinding of subjects, the actors' splendid faces are at the heart of the dazzling illusions in "The Illusionist" -- the mirrors in which the real magic is reflected. The screenplay and direction aren't particularly strong (I would have loved to have seen what Werner Herzog could have made with this material), so it wouldn't be half as entertaining without the right actors.
As Sophie, Biel is beguiling but not ephemeral; she refuses to conform to Victorian images of women as benign reflections of men's desires. Sophie is a woman whose heart, mind and flesh are her own. Sewell's mustachioed Leopold is at once formidable and ridiculous, fearsome and pathetic.
Edward Norton is an actor of fierce intelligence, and with the lower half of his face masked behind an impenetrable Van Dyke, and the rest framed by a sleek black mane, his dark, penetrating irises conjure some of the film's best effects. When he tells a volunteer from the audience to look into his eyes and nowhere else, it's almost an in-joke. Where else would you possibly look?
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