THE IMMIGRANT
Starring Marion Cotillard, Joaquin Phoenix, Jeremy Renner
Directed by James Gray
In New York City in 1921, the Statue of Liberty may openly welcome the tired and poor but the immigration authorities at Ellis Island have no tolerance for new arrivals with bad reputations or worse lungs. Ewa (Marion Cotillard) and Magda (Angela Sarafyan), two Polish sisters looking to start new lives, land in the latter unfortunate camp. And while tuberculous Magda remains quarantined, Ewa discovers a patron in Bruno (Joaquin Phoenix), who provides shelter in a tenement apartment and work with the opportunity for advancement (in exchange for moral compromise).
Given that The Immigrant marks Phoenix’s fourth collaboration with writer-director James Gray, it’s little surprise that the pair find themselves on the same page and in complete agreement on how best to punctuate every scene. While Cotillard amasses more screen time, it’s Phoenix who dictates the film’s telling.
Maintaining an oppressive control of Ewa, Bruno essentially becomes the only America that she knows. An uncharacteristically impish Jeremy Renner turns in appearances as a “pretty boy magician,” with his sudden, dramatic exits only serving to underscore the fact that Ewa and Bruno seem to be locked in an inescapable, slow motion death spiral.
Darius Khondji’s gold tinged cinematography both emulates the look of vintage photographs and abets the muted emotional palette that Gray favours. A sombre fable about “the things you do to survive,” The Immigrant is a stark reminder that the American Dream is sometimes only for those who can endure its accompanying trials. That said, it’s compassion is evident in a climactic sequence that grants its players deliverance courtesy of an immaculately framed, astonishingly orchestrated final shot.
