Plot: 1926. Famed escape artist Harry Houdini (Guy Pearce) has spent much of his energy of late trying to expose charlatans claiming to have paranormal/psychic powers. As such, he is offering a ten thousand dollar award to anyone who can recite his mother's dying words to him from several years earlier, those words which he has written in a sealed envelope and his mother to whom he was very close. Edinburgh based con-artist Mary McGarvie (Catherine Zeta-Jones), who largely works with her teenaged daughter Benji (Saoirse Ronan), senses an opportunity for that ten thousand dollars when she learns that Houdini will be in Edinburgh, Scotland on his latest tour. One of Mary and Benji's scams is to perpetrate having psychic powers in a stage show using previously gleaned information, often through nefarious means. Mary believes she and Benji can work such a scam on Houdini, which requires them getting close to him to find out as much about him as they can. Upon Houdini's arrival in Edinburgh, they find that an unforeseen obstacle is getting through Houdini's manager, Sugarman (Timothy Spall). As Mary and Benji do manage to get close to Houdini, they and Houdini will find that what happens is not quite what they were expecting.
Alternative Plot: Upon arriving in Edinburgh, Scotland for a series of mind-boggling performances, master illusionist Harry Houdini (Guy Pearce) offers an impressive cash reward to any supposed psychic who can accurately tell him his late mother's exact last words. Gorgeous swindler Mary McGarvie (Catherine Zeta-Jones) rises to the challenge and engages Houdini in a dangerous flirtation that will blur the line between reality and paranoia -- and test the very limits of his skepticism.
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