This movie is about playing magic with the audience, so from details to editing, Nolan set up a lot of obstacles, just like playing magic, sort out the story line:
Angier was originally a nobleman. He was a well-educated nobleman. He felt that the truth of life is pain. Therefore, if magic can be used to bring instant joy to people, it is of immense merit (it is estimated that there were no movies at that time). He became a magician incognito. Cutter is not so much the boss as the agent and magic prop designer he hired. He is the real talker. This detail was hinted at when he showed the performance of the Chinese Cheng Lingsu like Julia. He said, I know how he performed (holding the goldfish bowl between his thighs), so I must live on the stage for the rest of my life (walking outside), but I don’t want to make this sacrifice. He asked Cutter Alfred what he came from. At the time, Cutter asked: What is your background? (The magician does not ask for the source), he said, I have promised my family that I will not shame them (because I did a performance). This is why he always thinks about magic very complicatedly, because of his educational background, the nobles have all the knowledge of mankind in that era. His persistence also lies in this, so he easily believed in Tesla's science. And Alfred never believed it. He was uneducated. Most of his magic talents were talents, and the other was to survive. Later, after he went out independently, he designed his own performance.
It’s not surprising that Angier and Alfred are on the road to tearing down each other. They are not friends either. Angier’s typhoon is better, and his understanding of magic is philosophical: life is bitter, grasping the joy of the moment; Alfred is more persistent Skill, this is his belief in settling down. Angier doesn't need to prove himself. He was born into a nobleman, and he was satisfied with a higher level of spiritual enjoyment: to please others. And Alfred needs to prove himself and find his place. The sacrifice he made is greater. The life copied is only painful—Tesla told Angier, destroy it (the cloned human machine), otherwise you only gain pain (miserbale) Angier uses a machine, and Alfred uses a real person, all prove this.
Another dark line in the story is the struggle between Tesla and Edison. This requires understanding of the background to understand. Edison used his own power and financial resources to suppress Tesla and Tesla's rebelliousness made him depressed. Before Tesla died, he and his cats stayed in the hotel for a long time. It is mentioned in the movie that the town where Tesla lives in seclusion, the whole town is connected to electricity (alternating current), and he has also realized the wireless transmission of electricity (After Tesla died, some clues seemed to suggest that he had found a way) . It was also mentioned that those who came to force him away were working for Edison. At an AC exhibition, Edison's people came to sabotage and panic again, and Tesla sat in the audience at this time.
Cutter, he knew Angier's details from the beginning (since Angier mentioned Julia, he wouldn't know it), he designed magic and lived on it. He knew Alfred's twin brother, but didn't know that their lives were mixed together. Together with Angier, he designed and captured Alfred's brother Fallon and forced him to name Tesla. He later didn't know that the machine could copy people. After Angier designed the stage, he asked him to arrange the performance, which is very strange. He used to design the stage. Because he had to drown himself every time he performed, he didn't let him know that the blind man was in charge of the backstage. Every time after the performance, a water tank was taken away (with a dead Angier in it). Alfred saw this, but didn't know what was going on and couldn't guess it. When he learned about Angier's secret (the clone who died), he thought Angier was too much, so when Alfred went to kill him later, they passed by, and he nodded to him without saying anything. Later he, Alfred, took Alfred's daughter to continue his acting career.
The fate of women here is tragic. Encountering such an obsessed man is certainly a fatal attraction and the beginning of a tragedy. Both Angier and Alfred have expressed that they love magic more (rather than women they love). When Sarah discovered their brother's secret, she broke down and ran to commit suicide. Julia didn't find it. I don't actually understand why their brothers have mixed their lives (is it for fairness?), but this is one of the scenes of this play, which can only be understood as a huge sacrifice made by art.
There is one word in the whole movie: obsession. In Chinese words: If you don't go crazy, you won't survive.
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