Calling "The Illusionist" a romantic thriller is like calling a chihuahua a guard dog. It might technically be true, but
you shouldn't expect much from it. It has the trappings of romance, sure enough -- a turn-of-the-last-century Viennese setting, gorgeous period costumes, a lush Philip Glass musical score, and a plot involving star-crossed lovers from opposite sides of the tracks. Eisenheim (Edward Norton), the son of a cabinetmaker, is now a popular stage magician, a purveyor of tricks so clever they border on the supernatural. (Indeed, like most films about magicians, this one has him doing things that no real-life magician would be able to duplicate.) Night after night his theater fills with people from all over Vienna, including a police inspector named Uhl (Paul Giamatti) who fancies himself an amateur illusionist and is keen to learn the secrets.
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