The Immigrant Dvd

The Immigrant is a 2013 American drama film directed by James Gray, starring Marion Cotillard, Joaquin Phoenix, and Jeremy Renner. It was nominated for the Palme d’Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. The working titles of the film were Low Life and The Nightingale.

Plot

In 1921, Polish Catholic sisters Ewa (Marion Cotillard) and Magda (Angela Sarafyan) arrive at Ellis Island, New York City as immigrants looking for a better life after escaping their ravaged home in post–Great War Poland. Magda is quarantined because of her lung disease. Ewa is almost deported, but Bruno (Joaquin Phoenix), who is Jewish and claims to be from the Travelers’ Aid Society, notices her and her fluency in English, bribes an officer to let her go, and takes her to his house. Knowing Ewa has to make money to get Magda released, Bruno lets her dance at the Bandits’ Roost theater and prostitutes her. Bruno also becomes interested in her romantically.

Ewa looks for her expatriate relatives living in New York, but her uncle by marriage turns her in to the authorities; he says he had heard she had gotten in trouble for engaging in illicit behavior on the ship from Europe, and he wishes to distance himself from sheltering a prostitute. Policemen take her back to Ellis Island, and once again she is slated for deportation. While at Ellis Island Ewa watches a performance by Emil (Jeremy Renner) (Bruno’s cousin, making a living as a performing illusionist called Orlando); after his performance he hands her a white rose. The next morning Bruno manages to get her released. Ewa meets Emil again at the Bandit’s Roost. Emil asks Ewa to come onstage to aid him in his mind reading trick, but the men in the audience start catcalling at Ewa. The scene ends in a brawl between Bruno and Emil and with Bruno and the girls being fired from the theater. Soon after Bruno has his “doves” parade around Central Park to attract men to sleep with them. Another encounter between Emil and Ewa proves Emil’s feelings for her. Emil falls for Ewa, much to Bruno’s discontent, which causes continued and intense conflicts between the two men. One violent conflict concludes with Bruno being jailed overnight.

One day, Emil sneaks into Bruno’s home to see Ewa. While there, he promises to get her the money to save her sister so they can all leave New York together. Coincidentally, shortly after making such promise, Emil hides as Bruno returns. Bruno also makes a promise to Ewa: he is to arrange for her a meeting with her sister. But Emil interrupts Bruno, as he pulls out an unloaded gun and points it at Bruno. Emil pulls the trigger just to frighten him, but his attempt at intimidating Bruno backfires, as Bruno stabs him to death in apparent self-defense.

Overcoming the shock and distress of the death, Bruno and Ewa dump Emil’s body in the street at night to get rid of unwanted police investigations, but the police are told by another prostitute with whom Ewa had had conflicts that Ewa killed Emil. Bruno hides Ewa from the police, who then give him a severe beating and steal a large bundle of money he had been carrying. Ewa learns Bruno had enough money to pay for her sister’s release all along but was hiding it from her as he did not want her to leave him. Bruno claims he has now had a change of heart and would help Ewa and her sister if he had any money. Ewa makes another contact with her aunt and successfully pleads for her aunt to give her the money for Magda. With it, Bruno pays his contact on Ellis Island to release Ewa’s sister and gives them both tickets to New Jersey. Ewa and Magda leave, while a repentant Bruno stays in New York, intending to confess to the police about Emil’s killing.

Cast

Marion Cotillard as Ewa Cybulska
Joaquin Phoenix as Bruno Weiss
Jeremy Renner as Orlando the Magician / Emil
Yelena Solovey as Rosie Hertz
Dagmara Dominczyk as Belva
Maja Wampuszyc as Aunt Edyta
Angela Sarafyan as Magda Cybulska
Ilia Volok as Wojtek
Antoni Corone as Thomas MacNally
Peter McRobbie as Dr. Knox
Kevin Cannon as Missionary
Sofia Black D’Elia as Not Magda