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Through The Prestige, Nolan implies that Angier and Borden are both unable to embrace their true selves.

One example is in the ending montage, Nolan uses analepsis to flashback to Angier's initial testing of the machine. The handgun is shown in close up, as well as the shock on the clone's face. Now my interpretation of the ending has always been that Angier is truly dead and that the last shot actually intended to show us that all the huge boxes spread throughout the room were actually water tanks containg the bodies of clones that Angier killed for his performance. Always thought that was a great way to show us Angier's obsession to be as good as Borden.

However after recently rewatching the film, I have come across numerous theories which state that Angier may have used Tesla's machine one last time and that he might actually still be alive at the end.

So are these theories true or am I just horribly wrong? Also what are your personal interpretations of the ending?

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Throughout the Prestige, Nolan implies that Angier and Borden are both unable to embrace their true selves. In this scene, Julia states to Angier, 'You're pretending to be someone else... not just your name'. This is included in the movie as the director added it to show how other characters have started to notice that the other characters struggle being their true selves. A motif I find that relates with this topic is the tanks filled with Angier's clones, represent how Angier struggles to admit he won't have the perfect trick, without cloning himself to make a new person and not admitting the trick won't work without risk. The director wants to teach us through the motif that trying to change yourself in order for something to be successful, can come with backlash, and you will struggle to find yourself again after changing yourself. To link back to the topic, this proves the point of how characters in the prestige struggle with their sense of identity.

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Throughout the Prestige, Nolan implies that Angier and Borden are unable to embrace their true selves. Throughout the film, Angier and Borden use different tactics to make themselves different people, or as Julia puts it to Angier, 'You're pretending to be someone else... not just your name.' Angier uses fancy clothes on stage to make himself into the 'Great Danton', and the spotlight on stage is harsh and bright. He also changes his name from the aristocratic 'Lord Caldlow' to the lowly assistant 'Angier', using dirtier clothes and a different accent. Through a psychoanalytical perspective, we can see that Angier has difficulty with his identity, as he always feels the need to change, in order to become 'the greatest'. This existential crisis carries over to when Angier clones himself. Angier questions who is the real him, and whether or not he is a clone. He finds it hard to kill himself every night, and Nolan emphasizes this struggle with close up shots of Angier's face as he drowns. Angier often struggles with his identity, becuase he is constantly changing himself to become 'the greatest;.

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Sadie Veal

Throughout, The Prestige, Nolan implies that Angier and Borden are both unable to embrace their identity.  However, Borden and Angier have different ways that they struggle with their identity, and over the course of the movie they both have an existential crisis. From a psychoanalytical perspective, we can understand that Angier must have moral qualms about having to kill himself, not knowing if he will drown or become the man on the stage. This is evident when he says to Borden, "It took courage jumping into that box every night." It took a toll on his manner and his once bubbly personality became somber and more reserved. However, whilst he was concerned about killing himself, he still continued as part of the act. Angier inherently values performance over his mental well-being and any ethical concerns about cloning. The canaries are a strong motif for what Angier is going through, for every bird that reappears one must die. Angier's personal sacrifice turns caution to the wind and forgets his identity to create a good show. Therefore, no longer having a sense of identity and reality.

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Throughout The Prestige, Nolan implies that Angier and Borden are both unable to embrace their true selves. In the ending montage, Nolan uses analepsis to flashback to Angier's initial testing of the machine. The handgun is shown in close up, as well as the shock on the clone's face. Angier has many identities. He is Angier, The Great Danton, and Lord Caldlow. These important character shows the audience that he has many identities and has to live up to all of them. In the transported man, Angier gets cloned and he does not know whether he is going to come back as the clone or as himself. There is a motif of identity and this is shown at the end where at the end with all the drowned clones in the tanks. This shows that he will sacrifice a lot to put on a good show and perform a good trick. This motif is also shown with the caged birds and how they have to die but the people watching the trick don't know that. They think the bird comes back but it's actually a different bird. This proves how the characters struggle with their sense of identity in the prestige.

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Throughout the prestige Nolan implies that Angier and Borden are both unable to embrace their true selves, they very much struggle with their sense of identity. for example, Angier clones himself and does magic tricks just to get back at Borden. for what exactly? for accidentally killing his wife, whom he loved very much. this is the reason why he does magic, as Angier says ''That man stole my life, so I steal his trick.'' he says this because in order to be better than him he has to do his trick better or make up one that the audience will love more. for another example, there is a Camera shot in the prestige where Borden and his twin have to cut off their fingers, so they look identical. furthermore, Angier and Borden both struggle with their life purpose because there so bent on sabotage and revenge. in conclusion, Borden and Angier both have struggles with their sense of identity.

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The sigma's essay paragraph (alex noonan) 

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The sigma's essay paragraph (alex noonan) 

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Throughout The Prestige, struggles with identity is a main problem for the Borden twins, Angier and their wives.

Firstly, the Borden twins do not feel they personally feel with their sense of identity but more they feel it is necessary to leave their individual personalities and identity behind and create a joined one together. They did this because they thought it was necessary in order to create the end goal, which was to improve their statues, become better magicians and have financial stability. We can see how it affects the twins by Borden saying: "Oh, you think i can live like this? You think i bloody enjoy living like this?!" This emphasizes how over time leading a life with a identity that is not yourself can affect you mentally, psychologically and maybe even physically. Leading a double life, struggling with your identity that is not yours, affects the twins greatly, but it also affects their loved ones. Sarah notices that Albert is acting different and sees that he does not love her as much or as consistently as he used to. This is the cause of her suicide because she can't bear being with a man that does not always love her and maybe having an affair. The truth is, every time Albert 'doesn't' love her, its actually Freddy's time with her. Freddy loves Olivia and it shows in certain ways such as the way he is irritable and impatient with Sarah but loves Olivia so dearly, that is why Olivia calls the twin "Freddy." This is a pet name. The movie explores how struggling with identity comes out in more ways that one and affects themselves and the ones around them.

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Throughout the prestige, Nolan implies that Angier and Borden are both unable to embrace their true selves. Angier has an existential crisis. Julia tells him 'You're pretending to be someone else... not just your name.' This quote shows how Angier is trying to change his identity from Lord Caldlow. In the ending montage, Nolan uses analepsis to flashback to angiers initial testing of the machine. The handgun is shown in close up, as well as the shock on the clone's face.

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Throughout the prestige, Nolan implies that Angier and Borden are both unable to embrace their true selves. An important character is Angier, who was born as the aristocrat Lord Caldlow. Sometime before the events of the film, Angier changes his identity to the lowly magician's assistant, Robert Angier. When talking to his wife at the start of the film he says he didn't want to disgrace his family with his career in magic. To which Julia responds, "you're pretending to be someone else...not just your name." Through this example, the audience is shown that Angier has struggled with his identity long before the film takes place. Furthermore, the audience is shown Angier's fight with his true identity through his persona "the Great Danton," adopted later in the film. After the Death of his wife Julia, Angier experienced an existential crisis. He makes it his life's purposes to ruin the Borden brothers and their Career, sacrificing his morals. For example, at the start of the film Angier is reluctant to harm the birds for a trick, but after the death of his wife, he is willing to repeatedly kill himself to achieve a successful trick. In the ending montage, Nolan uses analepsis to flashback to Angier's initial testing of the machine. The handgun is shown close up, as well as the shock on the clone's face. A motif used to represent Angier's struggles with his identity is the cloned top hats. It displays the various clones and identities Angier has had and how he can no longer remember which is the original. "They are all your hats Mr. Angier." All of this emphasizes that Angier is unable to embrace his true self and struggles with his identity.

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Throughout the Prestige Nolan implies Angier and Borden are both unable to embrace their true selves. as the film progresses, we see Angier take on the persona of many characters. towards the end of the film, we see Angier as 'Lord Caldwell'. He dresses in more expensive clothes and inherits is young self again (his rich family name). Not only does Angier play Lord Caldwell but also the Great Danton, while being the Great Danton Angier dresses in expensive clothes to put on the impression he is wealthy. Throughout the film both Angier and Borden both use different tactics to be different people. All to beat each other and try and steal each other's lives and tricks. Putting in into Sarah's perspective "you're pretending to be someone else...not just your name. This shows us that other people in Borden and Angier's life were also affected by this 'identity crisis'. Not having a set identity Borden failed to have a successful relationship. The audience can see how this affected Borden in the way of him denying his feelings. We can see that he tried hard to not talk about it especially to Olivia, other than his brother he had no one to talk to. During the film we didn't know that Borden was two people, so the audience didn't actually see him expressing his feelings. Angier has difficulty with his identity, as he always feels the need to change his 'inner self' in order to be the greatest magician. Angier's existential crisis continues when he starts cloning himself. He says, "it took courage jumping into that box every night". Angier found it hard to kill his clone, because he questions if he is the clone. Christopher Nolan focus' on this by using close up's and spotlights on Angier's 'drowning face.