Watched the Prestige again last night. This was the first time probably since the first time I watched it that I saw it from the beginning, usually picking it up in the middle when it's on TV somewhere.
This watch got me wondering .... NOTE SPOILERS AHEAD (but the movie is 18 years old so DEAL) ...
Which Borden survives at the end? Alfred or Fallon?
For some reason I always felt that it was Alfred that survived at the end of the film and that somehow him and Fallon swapped places at the end in jail (not sure how) and that Fallon was the one executed.
But in rewatch I now think it was Fallon.
First here is how I separate the two men as:
Alfred is actually the Borden we get the bulk of the film. He was driven to become a player in the illusion world and concocted the idea of two men 1 single life. He was also the one that was obsessed with Angier. I will call him Borden in this.
Fallon was in disguise the bulk of the film. He was timid and went along with his brother's ambition to become famous. But he didn't share the ambition, but enjoyed the results.
A lot of the reviews have Alfred surviving at the end of the film. I noted above how I thought it was him too. HOWEVER watching again last night ...
1. The Borden caught and thrown in jail was caught because he was obsessed with Angier, sneaking in to find the secret of his trick.
2. When Borden and Fallon are meeting at the very end, Alfred is commanding him to live his own life - the life he was not allowed to live up to that point, because he was the timid one.
3. At the end when Borden gives the reveal of their trick, he notes that he loved Sarah (Rebecca Hall) while the other loved Olivia (ScarJo). This is the biggest tell of them all. First because the attitudes of the women better fit with the personalities of the men they match. And second, because the driven/angry one is the one that is always yelling at Sarah and in fact didn't care she committed suicide. Plus not only that, think of how their relationship both started, Fallon is interested in Sarah while Borden took Olivia because she was there.
4. When Borden and Fallon are talking at the carousel, not long before Sarah kills herself, Borden is commanding Fallon to fix things with Sarah while he is off to be with Olivia. It also makes you realize ...
5. The Borden with Olivia is the obsessed with Angier one because that is how he gets the diary handed off.
6. Finally at the end the Borden we have seen all film would have gloated over Angier when he killed him. The man that "won" at the end was mellow, just to have a bit of his life returned.
There are a lot of other clues too, but these were my prime ones.
In the end, I like this result better because Borden and Angier are both bad people in this film. This at least makes the one that lives in the end, somewhat likable (the less dick Borden brother).
Thoughts?
Just some other realizations:
The Borden that is buried by Angier and Cutter is IMHO Alfred and not Fallon. His attitude when he is drunk that night fits Alfred.
Lord Caldlow is Angier's real name. I always glossed over the part that he said he changed his name to not embarrass his family (at their request).
Fallon is likely the Borden that tied up Angier's wife, hence why the rest of the film Borden doesn't know what knot he tied.
Oh and Borden was by far the better magician. He spends the bulk of the film making his own illusions, while Angier has to use Cutter the whole time. But Angier was the better showman.