The Prestige (2006) is a psychological thriller film directed by Christopher Nolan about a deadly feud between two magicians named Angier and Borden.

Something I really liked about the movie was how thematically strong and interlinked its various themes were. For example, at the beginning of the movie, we learn that the magician’s tricks are seen as mundane unless the magicians can introduce some element of death to their tricks. We see this in a scene where Borden is performing in a bar. At first, he’s doing a simple trick where seemingly solid iron rings are interlinked, to which the audience boos and throws things at him. However, the audience immediately becomes interested when he escalates to asking the audience to shoot a gun at him so he can catch the bullet. We also see this when Angier comes up with an improved version of the teleporting man trick, as it involves killing the clone.

We also see this when the bird trick is revealed to work by killing one of the birds in the cage it is in. This is linked to the next theme, where they which is the idea of how no one cares about the man in the box, and this appears many times throughout the story:

• When Angier uses a double for the teleporting man trick, everyone applauds the double and not him.
• When Angier taunts the imprisoned Borden, he makes a show of saying that he doesn’t care about how Borden actually did his teleporting man trick and rips up the explanation.
• When Borden kills Angier, he doesn’t care about the dead clones in the water tanks.

We also learn at the end of the movie about how Borden had a secret twin, which was the way they could do the teleporting man trick in the first place. This revelation changes our interpretation of many prior events, creating an explanation for lots of “magical” events in the story including:

• Why Borden sometimes loved his wife and at other times loved his mistress.
• Why Borden’s hand wound had trouble healing (because his twin had to sustain the same wound at a later time).
• Why Borden literally did not know which knot he tied (because his twin tied it).
• Why Borden was able to get into Olivia’s home after escorting her (because his twin was inside).

However, I don’t think the story ever makes it clear which Borden is present in each scene except when Borden’s love to either of his partners is made clear. So, I don’t think it’s possible for us to know who tied the knot that killed Angier’s wife.