A man seated on a wooden chair concentrates, focusing all his will power on the space ahead of him. The audience begins to rustle with impatience when a ghost appears. This unusual apparition leads to the performer?s arrest.

So began the viewer?s journey in the movie, The Illusionist. This important scene, followed by a flashback that lasted most of the movie, draws the viewer?s attention from the start. Through Chief Inspector Uhl?s (Paul Giamatti) report, viewers learn the story of the mysterious magician?s past.

Eisenheim (Edward Norton) learned the art of illusion from a traveling magician. As his skill grew so did his clandestine romance with the Duchess Sophie von Teschen (Jessica Biel) until they were discovered and separated. Eisenheim then disappeared from his hometown to embark on a journey of throughout the world.

Fifteen years later Eisenheim reappears in Vienna. His uncanny performances attract the attention of Crown Price Leopold (Rufus Swell) who attends a show. When he volunteers his bride-to-be, Duchess von Teschen, to participate in an act, the childhood lovers recognize each other.

Eisenheim earns the prince?s spite when he suggests through one of his acts that Leopold deserves neither the crown nor the Duchess? hand in marriage. Leopold orders Uhl to find some pretense to arrest Eisenheim.

In order to continue his relationship with the Duchess, Eisenheim pulls off his biggest illusion yet.

Eisenheim?s line, ?Everything you see is an illusion,? sums up a movie that gives a new meaning to the old clich