In my preview for the week, I predicted that this film might be good, though not necessarily enjoyable. Unfortunately, I was only right about the second part. The film isn't terrible, and I never quite suffered from unbearable boredom while watching it, but it never got all that interesting, or anywhere near what I would consider "good".
The scenic design and set decoration are both very good, establishing the early 1920s time period well. It often felt like the film was deliberately attempting to evoke the flashback portions of "The Godfather Part II". It may have taken it a bit too far with the desaturated sepia hues, but overall it sold the time period well.
If only the world created through this design could have been populated with more realistic characters. On its surface the plot should come across as quite dramatic, but to me it often rang hollow. It follows Marion Cotillard's character, who arrives at Ellis Island as an immigrant and finds a not so benevolent benefactor in Joaquin Phoenix, who ushers her into a life of prostitution in exchange for his help in getting her and her sister into the country. Jeremy Renner shows up later as Phoenix's cousin, and a love triangle forms between the three. My major problem is that many of the actions the characters took during the film felt scripted--they didn't seem to come from any logical place. I don't think this is the actors' fault. They often seem to be giving everything they have in service of an underwritten script. Phoenix gets the worst of it, as his character undergoes what feels like a very forced transformation near the end of the film. He sells it as best he can, but it never rang true to me.
There's little in the film that is patently offensive in its badness. It just seems too set on telling a specific story that was rigidly thought out before being written. No allowances seem to have been made during the writing to let the script change from its original vision, making it feel like it's contorting itself to fit a preordained structure. It feels artificial.
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