Nicholas Urfe is a young Englishman, who has taken a teaching position on the Greek island of Phraxos, following the previous instructor's suicide. For Nicholas, it is a chance to sample different surroundings and an opportunity to escape from a relationship with his emotionally unstable lover Anne.

At first, Nicholas' life on Phraxos is uneventful but peaceful. However, he soon becomes involved with a reclusive man named Maurice Conchis, who owns an estate on the opposite side of the island, and has a beautiful young woman named Lily as his companion. On being introduced to the couple, Nicholas' life begins to unravel, and he tries to find out who the mysterious Conchis really is.

Is he a psychiatrist? A film producer? A Nazi sympathiser? Or a magician who controls the lives and destinies of those around him? Nicholas quickly begins to lose his grip on reality, sinking deeper into Conchis's game.

During visits to Conchis's estate, Nicholas has a series of experiences which gradually become more unexpected and bizarre. Many are related to (or are re-enactments of) past events from Conchis's life. Ultimately, these events begin happening off the estate as well at unexpected times and places, raising questions as to how much power and control Conchis can actually exercise over others' lives.

The story climaxes with a "trial" directed by Conchis, with Nicholas (and many others) participating.

The final scene, which may be interpreted as a coda, concerns Nicholas' relationship with Anne, and whether or not it will continue.

• Michael Caine as Nicholas Urfe
• Anthony Quinn as Maurice Conchis
• Candice Bergen as Lily
• Anna Karina as Anne
• Paul Stassino as Meli
• Julian Glover as Anton
• Takis Emmanuel as Kapetan
• George Pastell as Andreas and the Priest
• Danièle Noël as Soula

The film's writer John Fowles has a minor role as a boat captain.

Guy Green liked the book but not the script. He worked on the script with Fowles. Green said he disagreed with the producers over interpretation - they wanted more of a thriller, he wanted something more Fellini-like. The director claims Richard Zanuck had just seen Blow Up which had an abrupt ending and had them remove the last reel from The Magus. Green felt the film would have been more successful with the original ending.^[3]

The film was a critical disaster. Fowles was extremely disappointed with it, although he had written the screenplay himself, and laid most of the blame on director Guy Green.^[4] Michael Caine said that it was one of the worst films he had been involved in along with The Swarm and Ashanti because no one knew what it was all about. Candice Bergen said in an interview about the film: "I didn't know what to do and nobody told me. I couldn't put together the semblance of a performance." When Peter Sellers was asked whether he would make changes in his life if he had the opportunity to do it all over again, he jokingly replied, "I would do everything exactly the same except I wouldn't see The Magus."^[5][a]

Despite the film's failure, it was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Cinematography (Billy Williams) and retained a cult following.^[6]

Box office edit

According to Fox records, the film required $7 million in rentals to break even, and by 11 December 1970, it had made $2,450,000, resulting in a loss to the studio.^[7]

The film was released to DVD by 20th Century Fox on 16 October 2006, marking the first time that it has ever been available on home video in the U.S.

• The Magus at IMDb  
• The Magus at the TCM Movie Database
• The Magus at Rotten Tomatoes