If you pay close attention, you can actually tell in EVERY scene Borden is in which one is Albert and which one is Frederick (for those of you who don’t know, that is the name of each of them as their names together form “Alfred.”)

Frederick: the one who follows Angier down below the stage and every subsequent scene of him in prison/trial/execution. Obviously.
Frederick: first time we see Borden when he’s on the stage performing the underwater trick since he flies off the handle more and discusses changing knots.
Albert: the one who sees the show with the Chinese man. This COULD be Frederick but he just seems softer and nicer to Angier.
Albert: the one who performs the bird trick with Virgil and follows Sarah and her nephew. Frederick is the one waiting for her in her apartment pouring tea.
Frederick: the one who talks to Sarah about the bullet catch. Obviously it’s him because she catches him when she doesn’t believe him when he says “I love you.” Also when she mentions she’s pregnant and he says, “We should’ve told Fallon!” Because he knew he’s the father.
Albert: the one who visits Angier. “I’m sorry for your loss, Angier.” He didn’t know which knot his brother tied and he’s nicer and sincere.
Albert: the one performing the ring trick and gets his fingers shot off.
Frederick: “it’s as bad as it was.” “We can’t AFFORD (bang!) the bloody doctor back.”
Albert: the one who pulled the key for his family and said, “You caught me in the wrong mood.”
Albert/Frederick: performing the transported man trick. Don’t know who’s who though.
Frederick: the one Olivia initially talks to when Angier sends her there.
Frederick: the one who manipulates Root in the bar and takes Angier’s spot in his magic act. Just a viciousness that Frederick demonstrates.
Albert: the one who gets trapped in the coffin. This is apparent because later at dinner, it’s obviously Frederick who was being called “Freddy” by Olivia (which he likes because it more closely resembles his real name.) and since he was the one who said he thought he’d lost something very dear to him (his brother).
Albert: the one who talks to Jess about going to the zoo and can barely look at Olivia 5 minutes later.
Frederick: the one who gets into a shouting match with Sarah and really loses it when she says “I know what you really are...” (an improvised line by Rebecca Hall by the way which is really cool) and even more heartbreaking to see Albert (as Fallon) picking up Jess sweetly while she cries.
Frederick: the one who tries to win back Olivia after Sarah’s suicide, assuring he never loved Sarah.
Albert: “They do this after every show? We’re done. I don’t need his trick. The two of us, we’ll just leave him alone. We’re done.”
Albert: the one at the end who kills Angier and picks up Jess from Cutter.

So props to Christian Bale for subtly portraying 2 different people that’s obvious after many viewings but subtle enough to not spoil it for someone’s first time watching. And it becomes clear that between Angier, Albert and Frederick, 2 of the 3 were “bad” and one was good. Albert was kind, a good father, a wonderful magician, but not obsessed, didn’t kill Julia, and by the end, just wanted to be there for his daughter. Anyway, I thought maybe this would help some of you who didn’t understand parts of the movie to enjoy it more. The Prestige is a masterpiece.

The fact that there are like 5+ twists in this movie and they all work is incredible

in the last scene where the twins are together, the one about to be hanged is walked back to his cell and says "i'm sorry about sarah" which leads us to believe that the twin who lived was the one who actually did care for sarah and was the girl's father, making it a (slightly?) happier ending.

One important thematic point you didn't touch on: out of the three individuals in this rivalry, the one that survives is the one that was able to let go of the obsession. The twin that ends up framed for Angier's murder wasn't able to stop himself from trying to figure out and outthink Angier, while the other one out right says he doesn't need the trick and that he's done. The twin that lives doesn't kill Angier out of obsession, he does it to avenge the murder of his brother. That's why he's the one who gets to walk away into the sunset with his daughter; because he was able to let go.

This was my favorite movie for a while. Had no idea who these actors were when I saw it, but have always been a huge Nikolai Tesla fan

A twin! A twin brother!?
He said it was too easy too simple
Simple yes, easy?
No, it’s never easy sharing the same life.
One of Nolan’s many underrated classics

Fun Fact: The word "prestige" originally meant a trick, from the Latin "praestigium", meaning "illusion".

I didn't notice the twist right until it was fully revealed. On rewatch, I feel like it's soooooo obvious. That's how well it's done. I've watched it half a dozen times since then with friends and family, and throughout the film I keep thinking, oh surelyyyyy they're gonna catch on now. No one has got it. It's so perfectly hidden in plain sight, hard to spot but hinted at throughout the film. One of the best plot twists ever!

This is easily my favorite Nolan movie, and while he has become a more confident visual director, I don’t think he will ever be a better storyteller than in this film.

The Prestige is based on a book. Angier only did 100 shows because in the book, 1% of him was taken each time. 100 is all he could before Tesla assumed he would start to unravel from the trick after that.

Looking at fallon now it feels scary seeing how much he is literally christian bale in makeup im astonished i didnt guess that on my first viewing

I think the best thing about the film is there is no set “good guy” or “bad guy”. Both Borden and Angiers are protagonist and antagonist in equal measure.  Bale and Jackman put in literal performances of their lives. For me this film is perfect, there’s so little that could be improved and even all this time later and having watched it so many times I still love watching it.

This is my favorite Nolan movie.  I used to think there was a major flaw:  Angier is able to do a better version of the trick than Borden's with a double, but the problem is the double isn't loyal to him.  This problem is fixed with the first duplication; two Angiers could do the trick perfectly with no fear of either revealing it or betraying the other.  This was my thought for awhile.  

But that wouldn't work.  Angier is paranoid about what the clone will do, which means the clone would be as well; he literally couldn't trust himself.  Also, two Angiers would create a problem.  Also also, this isn't about having a better act than Borden -- Angier is clearly the superior showman while being equal in talent, so he was already a better magician.  This was about using Borden's trick to hurt Borden.

Making one copy and then doing the trick the traditional way would have been out of character for Angier.  A paranoid egomaniac out for revenge isn't going to share or  be able to trust anyone, especially not another version of himself.

Before I saw this video, I always thought Tesla had built Borden the cloning machine and he'd only used it once. I now really like the idea that Tesla literally was asked to rebuild a thing that he never made before that doesn't work by the laws of physics, and he's like "Yeah I can do that. Pay me".

Thank you for covering this movie. It isn't the one most people think about with Nolan's works, but I still remember watching it in the theatre and correctly guessing the twist with my dad.

I actually think the line about "now knowing if I'm going to be the man in the box or in the prestige" makes very very perfect sense. It doesn't matter the Angier saying that line has always been the clone who never experienced drowning in the box. He still lived that fear every time he entered the machine knowing that HE'LL DEFINITELY BE BOTH. Because entering the machine, you know that there will soon be a version of you thinking "oh no, I'm the one in the box drowning" in fear and agony. Yes, that one only experienced thinking "oh, thank god, I'm the lucky one again" showing in the prestige for many times but still certainly knowing there's always been another him felt the opposite and died. Later Angiers in the box probably thought "Oh no, I've been the lucky one so many times, but not this time!" and Angier knew there will be one Angier thinking exactly that every time. So, entering the machine you'll ALWAYS have that fear. It would never go away.

I think this is a rare case of improving on the original book.  There's less of a moral dilemma with the duplicates but it also goes in an unusual modern day direction

One of Nolan's best. Brilliant Acting, Writing, Directing And Shocks throughout. Nolan And Bale deserved Oscar Nominations The Former For Directing And Writing.

And that the two leads initials, Alfred Borden / Robert Angier - spell ABRA.

This is one of my favorite movies! It's actually what got me into non-horror thrillers