Ewa (Marion Cotillard) and her sister Magda (Angela Sarafyan) travel to Ellis Island, fleeing their native Poland because of war violence. At the entry point, they are separated because Magda has tuberculosis and must be quarantined. Ewa is told she can't enter as a woman alone and is about to be deported when a kind stranger, Bruno (Joaquin Phoenix), steps in and pays some bribes to have her released. Bruno, of course, is a pimp specifically preying on desperate women. He coerces Ewa into prostitution but soon grows enamored of her himself. So much so that he is insanely jealous when his cousin, Emil (Jeremy Renner), shows interest in Ewa.
It's a sad, tawdry love triangle with nothing terribly new or important to say. The only interesting bit is that Cotillard only had two months to learn a convincing Polish accent and dialogue. It's on the Criterion Channel as part of a collection of the director's, James Gray, work. If you are interested, go for it. This was not for me.
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