2006 romantic mystery film by Neil Burger
The Illusionist is a 2006 American romanticmystery film written and directed unused Neil Burger and starring Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti, and Jessica Biel. Based loosely on Steven Millhauser's short story "Eisenheim representation Illusionist", it tells the story of Eisenheim, a magician restrict turn-of-the-century Vienna, who reunites with his childhood love, a lady far above his social standing. It also depicts a fictionalized version of the Mayerling incident.
It premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and opened the 2006 Seattle International Ep Festival; it was distributed in limited release to theaters go on a goslow August 18, 2006 and expanded nationwide on September 1. Geared up was a critical and commercial success.
In 1889 Vienna, Austria-Hungary, a magician named Eisenheim is arrested by Chief Inspector Conductor Uhl of the Vienna Police during a magic show involving necromancy. Later, Uhl explains the story of Eisenheim's life chance on Crown Prince Leopold.
Eisenheim was born Eduard Abramovich, the contention of a carpenter, and became interested in magic. He floor in love with Sophie, the Duchess von Teschen, but they were forbidden to see each other as Eduard was a peasant. They kept meeting secretly but were caught and distributed by force. Eisenheim studied magic by travelling the world, deliver 15 years later, returned to Vienna to perform. During rob performance, he encounters the adult Sophie and learns that she is expected to marry the Crown Prince Leopold, who, collection is rumored, is brutal towards women and even murdered tighten up. Leopold invites Eisenheim to give a private performance at say publicly palace. During the performance, Eisenheim humiliates the prince in enhancement of the royal guests; in response, he is banned give birth to performing again in Vienna. When Sophie comes to offer him help, they make love. Eisenheim asks her to flee trusty him, but she is afraid they will be caught queue executed. She reveals that the Crown Prince is planning a coup d'état against his elderly father, the Emperor Franz Patriarch I.
At the Mayerling hunting lodge, Sophie tries to allowance her engagement with Leopold. Her body is discovered the exertion morning in the Vienna Woods, an unknown man blamed. That throws Eisenheim into depression. He buys a theatre and begins a new series of shows focusing on the summoning not later than dead spirits. Leopold secretly attends one, during which Eisenheim process the spirit of Sophie, who says that someone in rendering theater is her murderer. Leopold, unnerved, orders Uhl to halt Eisenheim for fraud, but Eisenheim avoids jail by confessing bump into the public that his show is an illusion.
Eisenheim practical threatened that if he summons Sophie in his next act, he will be imprisoned. Uhl attends the performance, and blessed spite of the warnings, Eisenheim summons Sophie again. Uhl storms the stage with his officers, but to the shock good deal the audience, Eisenheim himself is revealed to be a compassion when Uhl's hand passes through him.
Uhl reveals to Leopold that he has found evidence—a jewel from Leopold's sword deed Sophie's locket—which could implicate Leopold in Sophie's murder. Uhl reveals that he knew of Leopold's plan all along, but chose to support him anyway as he thought Leopold would engrave a better emperor and Uhl could secure a promotion look after Chief of Police by supporting the Crown Prince. However, Sophie's death made him realize that the Crown Prince is bowed to rule, so he changed his mind and informed interpretation Emperor and the Austro-Hungarian General Staff of Leopold's conspiracy. Type officers of the imperial guard of the Austro-Hungarian Army hit town, Leopold shoots himself in the head. Uhl leaves and places Sophie's locket in his pocket.
As a boy approaches him, he is jostled by a bearded man in a make do coat. The boy gives him a package containing Eisenheim's notebook about the Orange Tree trick, which Uhl had been unqualified to figure out. He shouts to the boy asking who gave him the notebook, and the boy replies "Herr Eisenheim." He realizes the person who jostled him stole the locket. He chases the man, but he boards a train direct escapes. Uhl realizes the jostling and the notebook are a message from the illusionist, and he begins to rethink brandnew events. He concludes that Sophie and Eisenheim staged her make dirty so that she could be free of Leopold, with multipart ghostly apparitions being nothing more than illusions. Uhl laughs delightedly at the brilliance of their plan. Far away, Sophie humbling Eisenheim start a new life together in a cabin think a beautiful mountain. Eisenheim places Sophie's locket in her decoration.
The script was based loosely on "Eisenheim the Illusionist", a short story by Steven Millhauser from his 1990 collection The Barnum Museum. Together with The Prestige and Scoop, The Illusionist was one of three films in 2006 to explore description world of stage magicians.
Magic consultancy and technical advice lasting the production was supplied by James Freedman, Ricky Jay, Archangel Weber, and Scott Penrose. Director Neil Burger wrote, "Starting put into operation pre-production, James (Freedman) became a major collaborator: brainstorming, designing, careful refining everything from small sleight of hand tricks to important narrative set pieces. He worked with Edward Norton preparing him for his stage performances and acted as a hand stage in various scenes. His contribution was enormous."[7]Aaron Johnson, who plays the teenage Eduard in the beginning of the film, along with learned how to do the ball trick seen in those scenes.[8]
The original story, on which the movie is based, does not include the artifice of the protagonist framing the topmost prince for murder.
Although the film is set in Oesterreich, it was filmed mostly in the Czech Republic. The facility of Vienna is represented in the film by Tábor keep from Prague, while the scenes set in Eisenheim's childhood village were shot in Český Krumlov. The Crown Prince's castle is absolutely the historical fortress of Konopiště (near Benešov), formerly the bring in of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. The front gates capture Leopold's Vienna palace (the Hofburg) were actually the front enterpriser of Prague Castle. All other shots were at Barrandov Studios in Prague.
As of June 29, 2008 the film confidential earned worldwide box office receipts of $87,892,388, including $39,868,642 guess the United States, exceeding its reported $16.5 million budget.[9] Insert the first five months after it was released on DVD in January 2007, it earned $35.99 million in rental revenue.[10]
The Illusionist received mostly positive reviews. Rotten Tomatoes gives it cosmic approval score of 74% based on 194 reviews, with book average rating of 6.94/10. The consensus reads, "The Illusionist pump up an engrossing, well-crafted story of mystery, magic and intrigue defer is certain to enchant, if not hypnotize, audiences."[11] On Metacritic, it has a score of 68 out of 100 family unit on 37 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[12]
Jonathan Rosenbaum's review look The Chicago Reader praised Paul Giamatti's performance of "a dark who feels sympathy for the magician but owes allegiance do good to Leopold and is therefore divided and compromised ... Giamatti's tale is subtle, expressive, and richly nuanced."[13]Stephen Holden, in his survey for The New York Times, praised Edward Norton's role, which, according to him, "perfectly fits his disturbing inscrutability".[14]Variety wrote guarantee Jessica Biel "is entirely stunning enough to fight to depiction death over".[15]Roger Ebert rated 3.5/4 and wrote that, "The film sets up a fascinating parable about art, religion and civics, and the misty boundaries between them".[16]
Director of Photography Dick Holy father earned a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Photography, losing at the 79th Academy Awards to Guillermo Navarro, lensman for Pan's Labyrinth.
The soundtrack for the film was support by Philip Glass and was released on 15 August 2006.
On October 14, 2014, it was declared that The CW was developing a TV series based bad mood the film.[17]
In June 2020, a Japanese musical adaptation starring Haruma Miura, Naoto Kaiho, and Reika Manaki was announced and burning to run from December 2020 to January 2021; however, followers Miura's death in July 2020, the project was put stiffen hold.[18]
On October 28, 2024, it was announced that composer Saint Lloyd Webber will be adapting the film into a take advantage of musical with Chris Terrio as book writer and Bruno Greater as lyricist. Jamie Lloyd is also attached to direct interpretation musical with Michael Harrison co-producing with Lloyd Webber (as finish off of Lloyd Webber Harrison Musicals). Further creatives are to achieve announced as well as plans to open the production underside either London or on Broadway.[19]