History Film / TheIllusionist2006

* NotWhatItLooksLike: Invoked and inverted in-story not by TheProtagonist, but by the man investigating him, of all things; who tells the protagonist that he's prepared to investigate "a discreet carriage ride" with the Duchess (and future empress) not as what it ''looked like'' (a sexual encounter), "but what it actually was." (As it turns out, a conversation between childhood friends.)

* NotWhatItLooksLike: Invoked and inverted in-story not by TheProtagonist, but by the man investigating him, of all things; who tells the protagonist that he's prepared to investigate "a discreet carriage ride" with the Duchess (and future empress) not as what it ''looked like'' (a sexual encounter), "but what it actually is." (As it turns out, a conversation between childhood friends.)

* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: Rudolf, the Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary, who is renamed Leopold in this telling. [[spoiler:Even around the unclear circumstances about his apparent suicide, there not exist clear proofs indicating he were plotting against his father, Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary.]]

* OffstageVillainy: We are told the prince is violent towards women and a cruel manipulator, but never see it. What we ''do'' see is him backhand Sophie and be generally unpleasant. He's also planning a coup d’état.

* AdaptationalNameChange: Rudolf, the real and historical Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary, was renamed Leopold in this movie.

* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: Rudolf, The Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary, who is renamed Leopold in this telling. [[spoiler:Even around the unclear circumstances about his apparent suicide, there not exist clear proofs indicating he were plotting against his father, Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary.]]

* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: Rudolf, The Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary, who is renamed Leopold in this telling. [[spoiler:Even around the unclear circumstances about his apparent suicide, there not exist clear proofs indicating he were plotting against his father, Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria.]]

* AdaptationalNameChange: Rudolf, the real and hystorical Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary, was renamed Leopold in this movie.

* AdaptationalNameChange: Rudolf, the real and historical Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary, was renamed Leopold in this movie.

* AdaptationalNameChange: Rudolf, The Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary, was renamed Leopold in this movie.

** He did kill a woman before.

* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: Rudolf, The Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary, who is renamed Leopold in this telling. [[spoiler:Even around the unclear circunstances about his apparent suicide, there not exist clear proofs indicating he were plotting against his father, Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria.]]

* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: Rudolf, The Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary, who is renamed Leopold in this telling. [[spoiler:Even around the unclear circunstances about his apparent suicide, there not exist clears proofs indicating he were plotting against his father, Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria.]]

* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: Rudolf, The Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary, who is renamed Leopold in this telling. [[spoiler:Even around the unclear circunstances about his apparent suicide, there not proof indicating he was conspirating against his father, Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria.]]

%%* HappilyEverAfter

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: :The story is a highly fictionalized version of the Mayerling incident, what were the series of events [[spoilerleading to the apparent murder–suicide of Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary, and his lover Baroness Mary Vetsera, in 1889.]]

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: [[spoiler:The story is a highly fictionalized version of the Mayerling incident, what were the series of events leading to the apparent murder–suicide of Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary, and his lover Baroness Mary Vetsera, in 1889.]]

* CaliforniaDoubling: 19th century Vienna was shot in present day Czech Republic.

* [[spoiler: MurderTheHypotenuse: Not intentionally. The protagonists' plan centers on themselves being thought dead. The fact that the prince shoots himself is an incidental, if helpful, coincidence.]]

%%* DeathGlare: The prince.

%%* DuelingMovies: In contest with ''Film/ThePrestige (2006)''.

%%* [[spoiler: MurderTheHypotenuse:]]

* PrinceCharmless: The prince is established early on to beat women.

* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: In the climax of the movie, [[spoiler:Leopold commited suicide, when the only thing between him and the troopers that were going to take him prisoner was just a weak door.]]

* TheEndingChangesEverything: [[spoiler:Sophie is not really dead. Things were arranged to seem as if Leopold had killed her (even for himself, by making him drunk at the moment of the purported homicide), and he commited suicide before being jailed... for a crime that he did not commit.]]

* AmbiguouslyJewish: Eisenheim, aka Eduard Abramowitz, has a Jewish surname, and is a stage magician in the early twentieth century. If so, it adds another reason why he and Sophie aren't allowed to be together.

* NotWhatItLooksLike: Invoked and inverted in-story not by TheProtagonist, but by the man investigating him, of all things; who tells the protagonist that he's prepared to investigate "a discreet carriage ride" with the Duchess (and future empress) not as what it ''looked like'' (a sexual encounter), "but what it actually is." (As it turns out, a conversation between childhood friends.)

%% Zero Context Examples are not allowed on wiki pages. Please add context before uncommenting.

%%* AdaptationExpansion:
* AllThereInTheManual: While Eisenheim's tricks may seem like a simple HandWave of reality for the sake of drama, all of them actually have very clear explanations--but only in the DVD commentary tracks.

* ArtisticLicenseGeography: Sophie is the Duchess of Teschen, and the Crown Prince is planning to marry her so that he can improve his claim to the Hungarian half of Austria-Hungary. However, Teschen was actually a Czech state populated by Poles and ruled by an Austrian noble family in the Austrian half of the Empire...the only connection with Hungary was that it lay across the border from them. At least geographically; it's possible that such a move might have been shore up dynastic and political affiliations with ''people'' tied to that territory/title, but the movie doesn't explain it.

* ChekhovsGun: There are many: the locket, the orange tree, the sword, and many minor ones.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Early in the film Eisenheim runs into a group of street urchins. Instead of simply giving them some money, which he's certainly capable of, he instead gives most of them one coin each with a slight-of-hand trick--except the last one, who he gives an empty handkerchief... Before raining coins down from his empty hands on the last boy and his fellows. This establishes him as a trickster, but a generous and gentle one.

* GambitRoulette: The big plan of Eisenheim was successful, [[spoiler:and he could escape with Sophie, with nobody hunting them, as it would happen if they simply run away with no master plan]]. Still, many things could have gone wrong with it.

** What if the family doctor was a bit more competent and realized that something was wrong?

** What if the family decided to bury the corpse at a deep tomb, or worse, cremate it?

** What if Leopold did not attend that specific night's show?

* HowWeGotHere: Most of the movie is actually Inspector Uhl's narration of how he ended up in the Prince's study, slightly late.

* SurroundedByIdiots: In-universe, this is the prince's general attitude. If someone can't accomplish what he tells them to--even if it's impossible--clearly they "can't be relied on."

* TakeThatAudience: InUniverse, Eisenheim was forced to this. Threatened to be detained for fraud, and with criminal charges increased if the mob outside attacked the building, he rushed to the balcony, to talk to his fans. And he destroyed their WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief by clarifying that he had no special powers and he can not summon the spirits of the dead. That everything the people had seen at the theater was an illusion, a trick. There it is, now there's no "fraud", the police can not detain him for that.

* WouldHitAGirl: The prince often does if the rumors about him beating his previous girlfriends are true.

** What if Uhl checked the stables immediately (as he was about to do), and not some years later?

** What if Uhl could get Eisenheim before he took the train, or get to the train as well before it left?