I recently finished reading The Prestige, the 1995 book on which Christopher Nolan's brilliant movie (it's in my top 100!) was made. And when I finished, it made me feel that the movie should have been nominated for a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar. Not because the book was bad. No, the book was actually very enjoyable. But the book and the movie offer a textbook example of how two different writers (or groups of writers, as two men wrote the screenplay) can take the same handful of elements and present them in completely different ways.I wish to spoil neither the film nor the book, so talking about how they differ is going to be a very tall order. And hopefully I can still do so in a way that intrigues people who did see the movie. Here goes:
The book still contains most of the same basic plot elements and revelations. The true nature of Alfred Borden (Christian Bale's character in the film) is the same. The way in which Rupert Angier (Hugh Jackman's character) is able to ultimately "out-perform" Borden's famous illusion is the same. Generally, the story follows the same path.
But in the book, the reason their feud begins in the first place is completely different. The level of retaliations back and forth between the two does not escalate so greatly. Borden is never arrested for any crime. (But, paradoxically, he does turn out to be more involved in Angier's ultimate fate than he is in the movie!) Tesla's machine does not function in exactly the same way in the book as it does in the movie -- the book version requires less "dirty work" of the user.
The book contains a subplot entirely excised from the film, involving the great-grandchildren of Angier and Borden interacting in modern times. The book seems to be much less cagey about hiding the true nature of Borden's character from the reader, but it trades that surprise for a very interesting and enjoyable narrative style when it comes to reading passages from his diary.
In short, I recommend the book to anyone who liked the movie. I ultimately didn't like it quite as much as the movie, but nevertheless found the comparisons between the two absolutely fascinating.
1 comment:
You might just get me to give it a shot. I don't know exactly why, but I rarely read a novel when I've seen its movie adaptation (and I'm not always thrilled to go see the adaption of a novel I've read, either).
I did make exceptions: I've read 2001 after seeing the movie (okay, this wasn't an adaptation per se, but pretty close), same thing with Contact, and with The World According to Garp (one of the best books I've ever read in my entire life).
I'm sure there are a few others, but I can't remember them right now. But I might just add The Prestige to the short list.
It's all your fault.
FKL
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