The Look on Their Faces: Transcending Lack in Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige

his article offers a psychoanalytical reading of Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige (2006) by principally focussing on the discourse of lack. I argue that the visual, structural and thematic composition of the film provides a means to confront the fundamental sense of lack – a central tenant of Lacanian psychoanalysis – at the heart of being. In particular, I contend that Nolan foregrounds lack by using reflexive techniques that call attention to the film’s production processes which in turn, highlight the spectator’s desire for a sense of (unattainable) unity.