Eisenheim The Illusionist

Prof. Myrna Monllor Jiménez

English 124

• Sepia toned

•Grainy film texture

• Imitates turn of the centuryfilms

• Initially looks as if theaudience is looking througha lens

Historical BackgroundHarry Houdini

• Born in Hungary• Jewish• Took his name from Robert Houdin, a French

magician• Accused of fraud by the police when he

visited Germany• known as an escape artist• Exposed spiritualists

Houdini’s Spirits

Vienna at the turn of the 20th century

• a hotbed of radical politics and a crucible of intellectual and artistic change.

• widespread discontent, a crumbling moral order and myriad cracks in the coherence of empire

• city of Mahler, Freud, Klimt, Wagner

Quotes from the story

• “It was the age of levitations and decapitations, of ghostly apparitions and sudden vanishings , as if the tottering empire, were revealing through the medium of its magicians its secret desire for annihilation”

• “Stories, like conjuring tricks, are invented because history is inadequate to our dreams…”

• “ All agreed that it was a sign of the times; And as precise memories faded, and the

everyday world of coffee cups, doctor’s visits, and war rumors returned, a secret relief penetrated the souls of the faithful, who knew that the Master had passed safely out of the crumbling order of history into the indestructible realm of mystery and dream.”

Central Conflicts of the Story

• Political turmoil in Vienna

• Spiritualism and illusionists

Narrator

Story

3rd person narrator

Reporting/Facts

Film

Omniscient narrator

Inspector Uhl

Plot Development/Structure

Story

Historical Background

Eisenheim’s story toldin chronological order

Eisenheim’sdisappearance without any explanation

Plot development film• Eisenheim at the

theatre (in media res)• Inspector Uhl’s telling

of the story in flashback, which ends with Eisenheim

at the theatre• Inspector Uhl solves

the puzzle• Coda/the lover’s

reunite

Central Conflicts in the film

• Eisenheim’s love for Sophie

• Eisenheim’s battle against the government through

Uhl and Leopold

CharacterizationStory

Eisenheim• Self-absorbed• Competitive• Loner• Seems to have preferred becoming an illusion

himselfUhl• Very minor character• Does not have any significance within the story

Eisenheim’s description• “Eisenheim was a man of medium height, with

broad shoulders and large, long-fingered hands. His most striking feature was his powerful head: the black intense eyes in the austerely pale face, the broad black beard, the thrusting forehead with receding hairline, all lent an appearance of unusual mental force. The newspaper accounts mention a minor trait that must have been highly effective: when he leaned his head forward, in intense concentration, there appeared over his right eyebrow a large vein shaped like and inverted Y. “

Antagonists in the story

“Benedetti, whose real name was Paul Henri

Cortot, of Lyon, was a master illusionist of

extraordinary smoothness and skill; his mistake

was to challenge Eisenheim by presenting

imitations of original Eisenheim illusions.”

“Benedetti stepped into a black cabinet and

was never seen again.”

“ Passaeur took the city by storm; and for the first time there was talk that Eisenheim had met his match, perhaps even…his master.”

“ Passaeur’s final performance was one of frightening brilliance…Suddenly he burst into a demonic laugh, and reaching up to his face he tore off a rubber mask and revealed himself to be Eisenheim.”

CharacterizationFilm

Eisenheim

•Blurs the distinction between illusion and reality by “crossing boundaries”.•“exercises power” through people’s credulity

The hero

Inspector Uhl

The antagonist

• basically a moral character forced by circumstances to act against his principles

• empathizes with Eisenheim

• is Eisenheim’s equal

• analytic

Sophie

The love interest

• willing to risk anything for love

• believes in Eisenheim unconditionally

• his equal in intelligence

Prince Leopold

• A fictional Crown Prince based on

Prince Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria• The Mayerling Incident (Marie Vetsera)

Prince Leopold

The villain

“It’s a trick, it’s an illusion.”

“He tries to trick you, I try to enlighten you.”

•Analytic and scientific

•Despot

• Cowardly

Symbols

The tree

Butterflies

Cards

The Locket

The Sword

The Gems

The playing card

“And you kept it all this time”

Symbols

upside down butterfly

Mirrors

Excalibur

Where does power come from?

Image of Entrapment

Endings

Suspension of disbelief

• How does Inspector

Uhl know the intimate details of

Eisenheim’s relationship with

Sophie?• How is it that

Eisenheim’s picture falls exactly beside the emerald?

Building Suspense

• Beginning with the ending

• Sophie and Eisenheim not being able to disappear the first time

• Sophie’s fake death• Eisenheim’s tricks • Clues

the orange tree

the locket

the gems• Eisenheim’s

appearance at the end

Quotes

• “one day we will go away together, we’ll disappear”

• “ fate and chance, these are the forces of nature”

• “ the soul’s endurance beyond life”

• “Perhaps, I’ll make you disappear.”

Bibliography

• http://www.darkhorizons.com/2006/illusionist.php

• http://www.landmarktheatres.com/mn/illusionist.html