The Illusionist

Continuity mistake: When Inspector Uhl is inspecting the theater prior to the arrival on the prince, he is speaking with Eisenheim. When Uhl says "I have been puzzling over how it works", Eisenheim is standing with his arms behind his back. When it cuts his arms are crossed. (00:20:15)

Mortug

The Illusionist mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Eisenheim places the sword upright parallel to the floor, although it's supposed to be still, watch its blade and the design of the wooden floor and you'll notice its position keeps changing depending on the shot focusing it. (00:39:00)

Sacha

Continuity mistake: When Leopold is trying to grab the floating sword, the position of his fingers on it differs depending on the angle focusing. (00:40:15)

Sacha

Continuity mistake: Eisenheim ends his show to Leopold and the Duchess turns her head away in slo-mo. When the angle changes half a second later she is staring at him and repeating the previous movement. (00:41:45)

Sacha

Continuity mistake: The Duchess arrives at Eisenheim's house horseback riding, her hair loose and messed up. She talks to him, kisses him, and a second later, when she enters the house her hair is perfectly brushed. (00:43:00)

Sacha

The Illusionist mistake picture

Continuity mistake: At the start, in shots from the stage towards the audience, all of the fires are lit, but in a closer shot of the audience near the front of the stage, at least one of the fires is out. During the final illusion shown at the end, the same shot or at least very similar to the one used at the beginning shows the same mistake again. (01:28:25)

Jon Sandys

The Illusionist mistake picture

Continuity mistake: After Eisenheim has disappeared, literally, from stage, Uhl and the policemen search his office. There, Uhl finds Eisenheim's notebook with the design of the locket in it. There is a large tear in the middle of the paper. It disappears when the inspector looks at it again after he has found the locket in the Prince's barn. (01:31:00 - 01:31:45)

ployp

Visible crew/equipment: Near the end of the film, Chief Inspector Uhl is in Prince Leopold's office. In the close-up shot when the two argue, you can view the boom mic, going from one character to the other, in the reflection on the brass table lamp.

More mistakes in The Illusionist

Eisenheim: I thought we might end this evening with a discussion of the soul. All of the greatest religions speak of the soul's endurance before the end of life. So what then does it mean to die?

More quotes from The Illusionist

Trivia: The girl playing young Sophie was only 13 when they filmed Eisenheim and her kissing. The kisses filmed were her first and second kisses. (00:09:50)

More trivia for The Illusionist

Question: Can you see the gemstones missing from the royal sword after Eisenheim holds it and secretly steals them? If you can still see them then Sophie must have taken them when The Crown Prince was passed out in the stable but I don't know which it is without seeing the scene.

Answer: You never see the sword closely enough to notice if Eisenheim took them during the performance. It is likely that he did not since this was a bit early in his planning (if he had started at all) and the Crown Prince could easily have noticed and replaced them or investigated that they were stolen. It is more likely than Sophie took them after the Crown Prince was passed out and then planted the green one in the stable and the red one in the folds of her dress.

Zwn Annwn

Answer: I'm no expert but I honestly thought the sword was wedged in a gap in the floor by the tip of the blade and slight pressure of foot on the floorboards would have clenched 2 boards together around the sword tip and then when the pressure released the sword comes out but the 2 sides of the floor boards slice one of the jewels off! Lol when you look at the floor with the tip of the sword there's a kind of optical illusion with the woodwork pattern but I'm probably completely wrong but I thoroughly enjoy the film it is truly magic the whole thing for me anyway. Greetings from Middle Earth.

More questions & answers from The Illusionist

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.