The semantics of the titular character's table-side note can be disseminated and reassembled however the viewer chooses, but The Illusionist a dedication to the idea that "magic"..."illusions" are inescapable. Subsequently the people who perform them do exist.
At various points illusions are shown which are neither controlled or "performed" as such. The Illusionist's rabbit "disappearing" into the soup is a good example of this; another: the Illusionist pretends, or is misunderstood as an auto-mechanic, but none-the-less performs his assigned task; another: Alice gradually dressing-up and impressing a past analogue of herself; another: the subversion of the scream-inducing alpha-male rock band into effeminate go-go dancers. If we're to carry this notion further into film clearly this "note" (and if you want, the entire father-daughter relationship) is simply another ruse...an unintentional machination devised for her to be happy. His eventual collapse into a "magical decline" (due to his dying art-form and the dilution of its grandeur) and his final denial as a magician all culminates in her happiness. It is an exact analogue to the Illusionist's having removed Alice's stale red jacket to reveal a prettier white one.
Not only this but as we leave the apartment the window blows open and creates a fluttering mass of shadowy uncertainty on the wall; Alice and her boyfriend are purposefully depicted in bright colors against a sea of umbrellas; the lights dim, but do not "blacken", the ventriloquist's puppet in the shop window; and most importantly, the TVs still shine light in the closed down shop.
Finally then, The Illusionist and Chomet (as magic and magician) perform their final trick on us: a child loses their small pencil in the train car, and as the Illusionist picks it up he pairs it with his own longer pencil and makes them disappear into his sleeve. Here he has a choice to make the child's pencil magically lengthen...but instead returns the very same smaller one. The same prop is replaced, through illusion, with the same prop. Likewise, the relationship of a father with his daughter is gradually replaced with a stronger, mutual one (compare the voyeuristic peering of the Illusionist as he comes home drunk with Alice's first kiss in the rain). The "same" is disappeared by "different" and returned as the "same", magic replaced by stronger magic. Or if you prefer...reality itself.
At various points illusions are shown which are neither controlled or "performed" as such. The Illusionist's rabbit "disappearing" into the soup is a good example of this; another: the Illusionist pretends, or is misunderstood as an auto-mechanic, but none-the-less performs his assigned task; another: Alice gradually dressing-up and impressing a past analogue of herself; another: the subversion of the scream-inducing alpha-male rock band into effeminate go-go dancers. If we're to carry this notion further into film clearly this "note" (and if you want, the entire father-daughter relationship) is simply another ruse...an unintentional machination devised for her to be happy. His eventual collapse into a "magical decline" (due to his dying art-form and the dilution of its grandeur) and his final denial as a magician all culminates in her happiness. It is an exact analogue to the Illusionist's having removed Alice's stale red jacket to reveal a prettier white one.
Not only this but as we leave the apartment the window blows open and creates a fluttering mass of shadowy uncertainty on the wall; Alice and her boyfriend are purposefully depicted in bright colors against a sea of umbrellas; the lights dim, but do not "blacken", the ventriloquist's puppet in the shop window; and most importantly, the TVs still shine light in the closed down shop.
Finally then, The Illusionist and Chomet (as magic and magician) perform their final trick on us: a child loses their small pencil in the train car, and as the Illusionist picks it up he pairs it with his own longer pencil and makes them disappear into his sleeve. Here he has a choice to make the child's pencil magically lengthen...but instead returns the very same smaller one. The same prop is replaced, through illusion, with the same prop. Likewise, the relationship of a father with his daughter is gradually replaced with a stronger, mutual one (compare the voyeuristic peering of the Illusionist as he comes home drunk with Alice's first kiss in the rain). The "same" is disappeared by "different" and returned as the "same", magic replaced by stronger magic. Or if you prefer...reality itself.