The Prestige (2006) - 18 quotes

Olivia Wenscombe: He wants me to come work for you and steal your secrets.

Alfred Borden: What does he need my secrets for? His trick is top-notch. He vanishes, and then he reappears instantly on the other side of the stage - mute, overweight, and unless I'm mistaken, very drunk. It's astonishing, how does he do it?

Nikola Tesla: Have you considered the cost of such a machine?

Robert Angier: Price is not an object.

Nikola Tesla: Yes, but have you considered the *cost*?

Robert Angier: Which hat is mine?

Nikola Tesla: They are all your hat, Mr. Angier.

Robert Angier: He's a dreadful magician.

Cutter: No, he's a wonderful magician. He's a dreadful showman.

Sarah: No more lies. No more secrets.

Alfred Borden: Secrets are my life.

Judge: How large do you think this tank was?

Cutter: Eh... 400, 500 gallons, maybe.

Judge: And how do you think he was able to move ta tank of this size?

Cutter: He's the magician. Why don't you ask him?

Ackerman: We'll have to dress it up a little. Disguise it. Give them enough reason to doubt it.

Alfred Borden: Everything's going to be alright, because I love you very much.

Sarah: Say it again.

Alfred Borden: I love you.

Sarah: Not today.

Alfred Borden: What do you mean?

Sarah: Well some days it's not true. Maybe today you're more in love with magic. I like being able to tell the difference, it makes the days it is true mean something.

Cutter: You settled on a name yet?

Robert Angier: Yes I have. The Great Danton.

Cutter: Bit old-fashioned isn't it?

Robert Angier: No. It's sophisticated.

Nikola Tesla: Exact science, Mr Angier, is not an exact science.

Nikola Tesla: Nothing is impossible, Mr. Angier. What you want is simply expensive.

Alfred Borden: The secret impresses no one. The trick you use it for is everything.

Sarah: Alfred, I can't live like this!

Alfred Borden: Well, what do you want from me?

Sarah: I want... I want you to be honest with me. No tricks, no lies, no secrets. Do you... do you love me?

Alfred Borden: Not today. No.

Sarah: I know what you really are. And Alfred, I can't live like this.

Alfred Borden: Oh, you think I can live like this? You think I bloody enjoy, living like this? We have a beautiful house, lovely little girl, we're married, what is so wrong with your life?

Alfred Borden: So... we go alone now. Both of us. Only I don't have as far to go as you. Go. You were right, I should have left him to his damn trick. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for a lot of things. I'm sorry about Sarah. I didn't mean to hurt her... I didn't. You go and live your life in full now, all right? You live for both of us.

Fallon: Goodbye.

Alfred Borden: You went halfway around the world. You spent a fortune. You did terrible things. Really terrible things Robert. And all for nothing.

Robert Angier: I never thought I'd find an answer at the bottom of a pint glass.

Cutter: Hasn't stopped you looking, has it?

Cutter: Every great magic trick consists of three parts or acts. The first part is called "The Pledge". The magician shows you something ordinary: a deck of cards, a bird or a man. He shows you this object. Perhaps he asks you to inspect it to see if it is indeed real, unaltered, normal. But of course... it probably isn't. The second act is called "The Turn". The magician takes the ordinary something and makes it do something extraordinary. Now you're looking for the secret... but you won't find it, because of course you're not really looking. You don't really want to know. You want to be fooled. But you wouldn't clap yet. Because making something disappear isn't enough; you have to bring it back. That's why every magic trick has a third act, the hardest part, the part we call "The Prestige".