Réalisation:
Neil BurgerScénario:
Neil BurgerPhotographie:
Dick PopeMusique:
Philip GlassActeurs·trices:
Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti, Jessica Biel, Rufus Sewell, Eddie Marsan, Jake Wood, Tom Fisher, Karl Johnson, Aaron Taylor-Johnson (plus)VOD (1)
Résumés(1)
Vienne, 1900. Dans une société partagée entre tradition et modernisme, un homme se targue de pouvoirs surnaturelles et fascine chaque nuit l'aristocratie et le peuple par des tours de magie spectaculaire. Le triomphe de ce mystérieux illusioniste est telle qu'il déstabilise peu à peu la stabilité de la Maison Royale qui a fait du "rationalisme" sa ligne de gouvernance. Le Prince Leopold charge alors son meilleur limier de démasquer l'imposture du magicien et de percer ses véritables intentions. (Metropolitan FilmExport)
(plus)Vidéo (2)
Critiques (11)
Bagarre historique pour le spectateur consumériste. Une caractérisation simplifiée des personnages, les émotions entre les deux personnages sont créées ici par une mise en lumière kitsch et un flou d'image en dehors de leurs visages. Comme dans le pire des telenovelas. D'un autre côté, l'histoire avance à un rythme rapide et Bratislava et Prague, peintes avec la musique de Philip Glass, ont un charme irrésistible, presque historiquement féerique. Il est un peu surprenant que le personnage le plus marquant (et la performance d'acteur) ne soit pas Edward Norton, mais Paul Giamatti. Si ce n'était pas pour l'effort ridicule de nous choquer avec une conclusion que tout spectateur un peu pensant découvrira (au moins) dix minutes plus tôt, et surtout si ce n'était pas pour son incohérence totale et son manque de finition, je lui donnerais 4 étoiles "coupables".
()
Surprisingly more entertaining than The Prestige for me. Edward Norton steals the whole film for himself, he is intelligent, charismatic, insightful and a very talented illusionist. The period in which the film takes place suited me very well, the romance is apt and not annoying and the overall flow of the plot is very brisk and not boring, so for me I'm satisfied, I don't even know why I put the film off for so long. Very good. 80%.
()
A fairytale dressed up as an ingenious show for adults. The Illusionist shows its colors in the title. For most of the movie it pretends to be something different than what it is. It seems to be a clever and well thought out picture until the last five minutes when it pulls out its true colors and it turns out to be woefully dumb. I mean the explanation for idiots at the end is so pointless when everything was obvious an hour before the end. I’m more fascinated about the fact that the creators all of a sudden ignore the only part that would have demolished this like a house of cards: the “spirits". This certainly is no disappointment in terms of the acting, but I must admit that I was expecting something more from such a cast. Up until his performance at the Hofburg in front of the nobility, The Illusionist is outstanding, then it is just good and at the end almost ridiculous. Apart from that, it’s a bit longer than is needed to be. But what makes it interesting for the Czechs among us are the filming locations and, for everybody, Glass’s music which occasionally does too much the work itself.
()
The Illusionist is very unlucky, since it directly clashed in time with another film about magic, Christopher Nolan's The Prestige, against which it doesn't stand a chance, even without closer examination. While the second film is characterized by its darkness and nerve-wracking complex twists, Neil Burger makes do with only a slightly mysterious atmosphere and simply drawn characters – good-evil-righteous-beautiful. Nevertheless, I liked this straightforward fairytale, even though it has serious flaws of logic in its explanations, but thanks to the suitable magical mood and clearly defined genre rules, it is more than pleasant in its simplicity.
()
I wouldn't have expected such a bland performance from Norton (another Italian Job?), and maybe he didn't even know what ear-splitting lines the script would force him to let out of his mouth. The only thing that keeps this below-average fable afloat, with the look of a slightly more expensive TV production, is the great (and better from film to film) Giammatti, while the final Shyamalan-like twist stands on very shaky legs. And I might rename the whole film to "Hologram Man" – Eisenheim's stunts in the second half were closer to science fiction than to illusory shenanigans (nasty nitwit Lima).
()
Annonces