wigowsky Review of The Illusionist

The Illusionist (2006)

Magical, mysterious, miraculous mosaic of the magician's art.

[10/10 · 24 September 2006]

I was absolutely amazed by the storyline and the dramatic presentation of the magician Eisenheim (Edward Norton). When the young magician initially tries to perform a "disappearing act" and fails, I was disappointed. However, when the magician goes "east" and studies the magical art and then returns to Vienna to perform "a convincing disappearing act" in public, I wondered who taught him and how he performed the act. The "disappearing act" throughout the history of magic has been associated with the esoteric knowledge of "dematerialization." The artistic renderings of the magician's art of "disappearance or dematerialization" in the movie reminded me of the story of the Greek philosopher Apollonius of Tyana (a neo-Pythagorian), who magically disappeared from the court of the Roman Emperor Domitian in the first century C.E. In the case of Apollonius, in contrast to the illusionist Eisenheim, the disappearance was not an illusion. Unless we accept the idea that all matter is illusory, and the transformation of matter to energy is part of that "illusion."