Ida
Directed by Paweł Pawlikowski
- drama
The story
In 1960s Poland, young novitiate Anna is on the verge of taking her vows when she discovers a family secret dating back to the years of the German occupation.
What it’s like
Austere black-and-white compositions in the Academy ratio: long static shots of whitewashed convent corridors, bare rooms and flat Polish winter fields, lit by hard overcast daylight and the grey glow of windows, with almost no camera movement and faces held in tight, symmetrical framing. The sound is sparse, mostly ambient wind, footsteps, distant church bells and the hush of rural roads, with little score beyond occasional jazz. The mood is cold, contemplative and quietly grief-struck, a slow, meditative drama about faith, silence and a past that refuses to stay buried, following a young novice who is drawn out into the world before her vows. Its pacing is deliberately unhurried, and its arc is one of a sheltered young woman slowly confronting what her life has been built on. Intensity is low: brief, sudden moments of violence and a bleak, tragic undercurrent, but no gore and little overt cruelty on screen. Suited to a late-night or rainy-afternoon watch, and to viewers who want a restrained, beautifully composed film that rewards stillness and patience.
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