Article: Screen magic: The actors and atmosphere in 'The Illusionist' mesmerize with romance, intrigue.(Movie review)

Byline: Michael Sragow

Aug. 18--B To billions of filmgoers, the essence of "movieness" may be something immediate, simple and viscerally satisfying, like snakes on a plane. But to an equally red-blooded audience with a taste for romantic conspiracy, movieness could be action filled with the white and black magic of political subterfuge and hocus-pocus. A time and place draped in elegant or risky mysteries like turn-of-the-century Vienna. And characters exuding intrigue -- from a low-born illusionist named Eisenheim (Edward Norton) and his eye-popping true love, Duchess Sophie von Teschen (Jessica Biel), to his dashing rival for her hand, the ambitious Crown ...

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