The Immigrant (2013)

1921. An innocent immigrant woman is tricked into a life of burlesque and vaudeville until a dazzling magician tries to save her and reunite her with her sister who is being held in the confines of Ellis Island.

Director:

James Gray

Writers:

James Gray, Ric Menello (as Richard Menello)

Stars:

Marion Cotillard, Joaquin Phoenix, Jeremy Renner

15 wins & 29 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Marion Cotillard	...	Ewa Cybulska
Joaquin Phoenix	...	Bruno Weiss
Jeremy Renner	...	Orlando the Magician / Emil
Dagmara Dominczyk	...	Belva
Jicky Schnee	...	Clara
Elena Solovey	...	Rosie Hertz (as Yelena Solovey)
Maja Wampuszyc	...	Edyta Bistricky
Ilia Volok	...	Wojtek Bistricky
Angela Sarafyan	...	Magda Cybulska
Antoni Corone	...	Customs Officer Thomas MacNally
Patrick Husted	...	Priest
Patrick Holden O'Neill	...	Leo Straub (as Patrick O'Neill)
Sam Tsoutsouvas	...	Oskar Straub
Robert Clohessy	...	Immigration Official
Adam Rothenberg	...	Officer DeKeiffer

Storyline

1921. In search of a new start and the American dream, Ewa Cybulska and her sister Magda sail to New York from their native Poland. When they reach Ellis Island, doctors discover that Magda is ill, and the two women are separated. Ewa is released onto the mean streets of Manhattan while her sister is quarantined. Alone, with nowhere to turn and desperate to reunite with Magda, she quickly falls prey to Bruno, a charming but wicked man who takes her in and forces her into prostitution. And then one day, Ewa encounters Bruno's cousin, the debonair magician Orlando. He sweeps Ewa off her feet and quickly becomes her only chance to escape the nightmare in which she finds herself.

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Plot Keywords:

prostitution | immigration | immigrant | magician | money | 

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sexual content, nudity and some language

Details

Official Sites:

Europa Filmes [Brazil] Official site [France]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Polish Latin

Release Date:

23 May 2014 (USA)

Also Known As:

Lowlife

Filming Locations:

Kaufman Astoria Studios - 3412 36th Street, Astoria, Queens, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$16,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$44,064, 16 May 2014, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$2,013,456, 2 July 2014

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$5,867,686, 29 June 2014

Company Credits

Production Co:

Worldview Entertainment, Keep Your Head, Kingsgate Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS Datasat

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

James Gray told that he was watching Giacomo Puccini's opera 'Il Trittico' [directed by William Friedkin in 2008] and crying, and said to his wife: 'You know, they don't make movies about women anymore, like the old ones with Barbara Stanwyck and Greer Garson.' And she said: 'Why don't you make one?'. So Gray wrote a role for Marion Cotillard similar to Puccini's sin-haunted nun Sister Angelica. Gray also used his own family's history, the movie is also based on the experiences told to the director by his grandparents who were Russian immigrants who came through Ellis Island in 1923.

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Goofs

The famous opera singer Enrico Caruso did sing at Ellis Island, but not in February 1921. Carusos's last performance was in late December 1920, after which his health deteriorated.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Ewa Cybulska: [standing in line at Ellis Island speaking Polish] We're almost there.
Magda Cybulska: [coughing]
Ewa Cybulska: The doctors are looking, try to hold it in. You're just nervous. That brings it on. Try to close your ears and say a prayer, to the Mother of God.
Magda Cybulska: I will.
Ewa Cybulska: We'll find Aunt Edyta soon, and we'll be safe. We'll be together. We'll make our own families, have lots of children.

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Connections

Referenced in DP/30: Conversations About Movies: Two Days, One Night: Marion Cotillard (2015)

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Soundtracks

Funeral Canticle
Written by John Tavener and Mother Thekla
Performed by George Mosley, Paul Goodwin and The Academy of Ancient Music
Courtesy of Harmonia Mundi USA
By Arrangement with Source/Q
[Text by Mother Thekla and from the 'Orthodox Funeral Service']

User Reviews

A melodrama built upon clichés whose good performances can't save from boredom

There is nothing new or surprising in the story: a poor young immigrant girl who is fresh-off-the-boat taken advantage of, and is sexually exploited by another survivor (just one step above in the food chain ladder) in the golden age of immigration in America.

The acting is good, but the script is quite poor and the direction merely goes through the motions of formal correctness without adding depth, or a true reflection, or a new insight on the matter.

The characters lack in complexity and reality; the revealing of social injustice is more a "homework making" of a formal outrage than a truly insightful exploration of human miseries.

It is an average film with minor hits and major misses which, in my opinion, will not make its way through history, even for easy-to-please audiences as the lovers of Hollywood movies.