Movie review: Ida

A scene from Ida.

Polish-born writer-director Pawlikowski made his name in Britain with the terrific coming-of-age love story My Summer of Love and the heartfelt portrait of the loneliness of the immigrant, Last Resort.

His new film, set in his homeland in 1962, grapples with two eras in that country's past - the Holocaust and post-war Stalinism - and achieves something quite remarkable. Rather than grimly trawling through the horrors of either age (they are observed only glancingly, and literally at the edge of the frame), he has created a small and perfectly formed portrait of personal self-discovery that reflects, rather than depicts, the political realities.

Anna (Trzebuchowska), a novice nun who has lived in a convent since infancy, is about to take the veil, when her Mother Superior instructs her to visit her only surviving relative, a previously unknown aunt called Wanda (Kulesza).

The latter turns out to be a judge, whose past as a former state prosecutor presiding over the show trials of the previous decade has left its mark. Now bitter and cynical, she deals with the corrosive legacy of her past with chain-smoking, heavy drinking and casual sex.

She is not exactly happy to see Anna and there is a kind of perverse cruelty in the way she delivers a bombshell about the young woman's past - the least of which is her real name, the title's Ida.

It would be wrong to say more about the complicated and nuanced relationship that develops between these two, but what ensues is a road trip that delves into Ida's and, by extension, the country's, past. And it saves its most shocking revelation until last. At barely 80 minutes, Ida is a miracle of conciseness - narratively, emotionally and cinematically. Working in black and white and in the old 4:3 ratio of the era, Pawlikowski has his two cinematographers, Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lenczewski, keep the camera very still. More strikingly, it tilts upward slightly so the characters are often tiny figures, marooned at the bottom of the frame.

That style, and the story's raw material, makes the film sound bleak and uninviting, but it is actually a deeply thrilling experience on many levels. In the spiritual intensity it finds in the everyday it recalls Bergman and Bresson, but it never feels derivative and the performances generate an extraordinary chemistry. It's a film that reminds you what cinema can be and is certain to be one the best films of my year.

Cast:

Agata Kulesza, Agata Trzebuchowska, Dawid Ogrodnik, Jerzy Trela

Director:

Pawel Pawlikowski

Running time:

82 mins

Rating:

M Adult themes In Polish with English subtitles

Verdict:

An art film masterpiece

- TimeOut