Starring: Marion Cotillard, Joaquin Phoenix, Angela Sarafyan, and Jeremy Renner
Distributor: Roadshow Films
Runtime: 118 mins. Reviewed in Sep 2014
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This is an American drama film that was nominated for the Palme d’Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, and has been the recipient of awards at other International Film Festivals for Best Actress, and Best Director. It tells the story of a Catholic immigrant, Ewa Cybulska (Marion Cotillard), and her sister, Magda (Angela Sarafyan), who sailed from Poland to New York in 1921 in search for a better way of life. Both have fled from war and deprivation, but their dream goes tragically wrong. The film partially uses subtitles, though it is voiced in English.
Reaching New York, Magdalen and Ewa arrive at Ellis Island, where Magda is quarantined with a lung disease in an immigration infirmary. Ewa is put in a holding pattern for deportation for rumoured bad behaviour on the voyage, but is noticed by Bruno (Joaquin Phoenix) who runs a brothel out of a burlesque theatre, called “Bandit’s Roost”. Desperate to stay, Ewa accepts the help of Bruno, who bribes an officer to prevent her from being deported. Money is needed for the release of her sister from Ellis Island, and eager to earn what is required to help her sister, Ewa allows Bruno to use her as a prostitute.
With time, Bruno falls intoxicatingly in love with Ewa, and Bruno’s cousin, Emil (Jeremy Renner), who is a theatrical illusionist, also becomes smitten with Ewa. Emil and Bruno eventually fight over Ewa, and Emil is killed by a jealous Bruno. Another prostitute, who resents Ewa’s capacity for self-control, claims Ewa was the murderer and the Police come after Ewa. Bruno attempts to hide Ewa from the Police to protect her, and gets beaten by them. The movie concludes in an extraordinary scene by showing both Ewa and Magda escaping to Jersey, leaving Bruno behind in New York to admit to his crime.
The film’s visuals are stunning. James Gray directs a powerful story, and Marion Cotillard delivers a superb performance as Ewa. Her character is the central focus of the film. Cotillard acts the newcomer to a harsh America with a poignancy and authenticity that are deeply affecting. The emotions associated with her tragic plight are communicated subtly, but their nature is always clear. Cotillard’s expressive face hauntingly depicts the tragedies that befall Ewa, and her acting in the film matches her heart-breaking performance as the resilient whale-trainer in “Rust and Bone” (2012).
The film is a period drama that is emotionally raw. New York is recreated by Gray in rich detail, and his direction controls what the viewer is meant to see. He paints the streets of New York as grim, grimy and dangerous.The moral dilemmas for Ewa are explicit, and the film involves the viewer constantly in her decision-making. The film asks us what does Ewa need to do to ensure that her pride and dignity stay intact, what should she do to protect herself in order to survive, and how can her religious belief save her?
This is a film that about degradation, but it is also a movie about enforced submission and redemption. The film straddles melodrama and dramatic intensity, and is supported by excellent camera-work that uses sepia tones to heighten its dramatic impact.
Gray’s strategy in direction is to convey what happens by showing its effect on human emotions and experience. The film establishes its power by showing how emotions are affected, and what impact they have on human relationships, but its depiction of relationships is complex. Bruno cares for Ewa in a volatile way, but he doesn’t hesitate to exploit her. Ewa comes to despise Bruno for what he has made her do, but she hates herself more for having to do what he asks: “I hate you and I hate myself”, she says. Despite the contradictions, and a degree of plot-contrivance, both characters are drawn very strongly. At the conclusion to the movie, Ewa learns “the power of forgiveness”, and she redeems Bruno by her actions: “I am not nothing” she intones constantly during the course of the film, and tells the beaten Bruno for the first time at its end, “You are not nothing (also)”, which is the message he was waiting to hear.
This is an intimate and emotionally nuanced movie that shows an appreciation for fine acting and rich detail, and under Gray’s expert direction it exposes the viewer to a range of complex human feeling that captures context brilliantly. It is a movie not to be missed.
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