Aside from the release of Christopher Nolan’s period piece magician caper The Prestige, the year 2006 had one more trick up its sleeve in the form of Neil Burger’s adaptation of Steven Millhauser’s short story “Eisenheim the Illusionist.” Set in turn-of-the-century Vienna, Austria, the film stars Edward Norton as a poor magician who falls in love with a countess (Jessica Biel) while rivals Crown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell) and Chief Inspector Uhl (Paul Giamatti) seek to discredit and apprehend him. With a star-studded cast and music by Philip Glass, Burger’s film weaved in historical events to cast a spell over audiences and critics alike. And even though it pulled off the trick of getting into cinemas a month and a half before The Prestige, this flick didn’t quite steal as much coin as Nolan’s. However, both films scored Oscar nominations for their cinematographers – Bill Pope for this one and Wally Pfister for The Prestige – and are roughly tied on ranking sites like Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic, and Letterboxd. But where does reality end and imagination begin? We’re pulling back the curtain to see if there is truth in The Illusionist!

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