I felt I was watching something intriguing and special for the first 45 minutes, and then I thought, as one critic said (paraphrasing), it "showed early signs of profundity which degraded into pomposity."
It got lost in itseltf, and Kaufman will probably claim that it's intentional. Personally, I think the inability to tell a story cinematically in terms of plot and structure as well as reach out to an audience en masse is a sign of his inept directorial ability, not of his "deep psychological portrayal of existential despair." Sure, play around with plot, structure, narrative devices, etc., but do it in such a way that is so brilliant that it's understood on multiple levels by many people of different backgrounds and educational levels. The pedantry is suffocating, pretentious, and pompous.
I.e. Kaufman said he was trying to portray Adele as the "real artist" while Caden is a poseur, because of Adele's attention to detail in her paintings, showing her as more evolved and insightful. Caden is a poseur because he could only imitate real life literally in a large scale but failing to handle "reality" which results in a major hallucinatory dream. I didn't necessarily make that connection in the film which is central to Kaufman's intention. If you fail to express your ideas cinematical skill, it simply bores people.
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