🎩🪄 The Prestige - how far would you go to win the illusion?
Details
Movie discussion - watch the full film beforehand. Full spoilers, no screening.
What this is
Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige starts as a rivalry between two Victorian magicians.
Then it gets meaner.
Two men chase the perfect illusion and slowly give more of themselves to the trick: their relationships, their identities, their decency, their ability to stop. Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale are both excellent, but the real pull is watching obsession become a kind of prison with applause at the end.
This fits our October run around illusion, belief, identity, and what people are willing to accept if the performance is convincing enough.
A few questions for the room
- “At what point does dedication become self-destruction?”
- “Is the real trick the illusion, or the identity someone builds around it?”
- “Who pays the highest price for being believed?”
When and where
🗓️ Date: Sunday, October 18th, 2026
🕒 Time: 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM PDT
📍 Location: UBC Learning Exchange
612 Main St, Vancouver, BC V6A 2V3, Canada
Meeting point: main entrance at 612 Main Street.
Please arrive 10 minutes before the start. Doors close 10 minutes after start.
Cap: 20