Sharyn-
Well, one of the illusions we are explained outright, how the main character whose name escapes me right now has a double for the ball catching trick. Many others such as the bird in cage trick are also explaind, although in less detail. However the huge sparking cloning thing that Tesla built still makes no sense to me. I mean yeah, it clones him, but how freaky. I saw it not to long ago with a few
stagehand friends and we spent the greater part of 2 hours in the car ride back from the theater and in my loft discussing the different ways the
plot could of have unfolded. As you remember, the audience is still left pretty much in the dark at the end of the film.
I second what you said about how everyone interested in
stage craft should see it. It is a pretty wild film, really blew my mind.