The Prestige (2006)

Two magicians, Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) and Alfred Borden (Christian Bale), started out as partners and friends, but then a tragic stage accident made them bitter enemies. Set in turn-of-the-century England, the film takes us behind the scenes, as it were, to learn the mechanics of magic, its craft, secrets, and showmanship. But this film is more about the men than their magic — it's about their obsessions, egos and envy. Angier and Borden do everything they can to destroy each other. They sabotage each other's performances, steal secrets, ping pong the beautiful assistant Olivia between them as a lover-spy, and contrive every and any advantage over the other. They intend to destroy one another, and one of them succeeds. The film gets its name from the third part of every magic trick. After the "pledge" to do something outrageous and the "turn" of events, the "prestige" is "the part with the twists and turns, where lives hang in the balance, and you see something shocking you've never seen before." That description fits not only the magicians but their very own lives.