The Illusionist Details

[Highly rated reviewer]

I'm under no illusion...this is great !

This is a beautifully filmed really good film, that is made great by its actors. Edward Norton is just superb as Eisenheim the illusionist, but Paul Giamatti as the inspector, Jessica Biel as Sophie and Rufus Sewell as Crown Prince leopold are similarly excellent. The whole thing just comes together really well and makes for a really interesting film.

Although it is just a story, it does have a whiff of reality in the portrayal of Crown Prince of Austria, who was a real odd bod, who, to all intents and purposes ended the Habsburg monarchy on his controvertial death with his mistress in 1889. It is still not known if it was really suicide or if they were murdered.

This film is well worth a watch.

Better than anticipated

I noticed this film in a preveiw at the cinema but it came and went very quickly. Therefore I was really pleased to be able to rent it from Sofa Cinema.

We had a film Friday night with 3 kids (aged 10, 12 and 14). We all loved it. Mature, great narrative, gripping and clever.

The sex and death scenes kind of pushed the PG rating to the limits but the film got away with it. I think the plot got us throught those moments. The 12 and 14 year old girls were very embarassed with the sex, although the filmmaker tried to do it in a sympathetic and gentle way.

We are all really glad we watched the film. It was very clever in many different ways. Can't really say much more as it was pure magic! (and we don't want to give the game away!) A great film for people over 10! Highly recommmended.