Ida (2013)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Ida (2013) – P. Pawlikowski

I really enjoyed Pawel Pawlikowski’s Cold War (2018), so I thought I would go back and look at his previous film (also in black and white) to take a better measure of his skill.  And again, there is a gorgeous stylishness to this work – with shots that are so beautifully framed that they might stand alone as photographs.  The story is on a smaller scale, focused on a young woman (Agata Trzebuchowska) about to take her vows as a nun who is encouraged to meet her only living relative, an aunt (Agata Kulesza), before she commits to the sisterhood.  The aunt, Wanda, reveals that the young woman, Anna (but really Ida), is actually Jewish and that her parents were killed during the war.  They travel to find their graves in a rural town in Poland, discovering more than they asked for (although suspected or known by the aunt).  Agata Kulesza gives Wanda a lived-in feeling, portraying a character who has lived beyond her period of true moral engagement and now simply avoids the truth (and the pain).  As Anna, Agata Trzebuchowska is more subdued (repressed even) but much is revealed in the final moments of the film.  The film is brief (80 minutes) but it captures these people and this time (1962) and the choices they have made and must make.  But more than anything, the film looks beautiful.