A lot of filmmakers, after making a splash with an independent or small-budget hit, will move on to blockbuster fare, but Pawel Pawlikowski has done the opposite. Best known for the English romance My Summer of Love, Pawlikowski has returned to his native Poland and made a black-and-white drama about a young woman (Agata Trzebuchowska) on the verge of taking her vows as a Catholic nun. Having grown up in the convent, she is only now being told she has a living relative, an aunt (Agata Kulesza). The aunt she never knew tells her about the parents she never knew, who were Jews who died, or were killed, during World War II.
In the course of this concisely told tale, these very different women together try to find out what happened. The contrast of personalities is about the only thing Ida has in common with My Summer of Love. Asked if she’s ever had impure thoughts, Ida says yes, but not carnal ones. Too bad, the aunt says, because it’s not much of a sacrifice if you don’t know what you’re giving up. The sheltered girl and the hard-edged, hard-drinking aunt make a sort of good-cop, bad-cop pairing, though Pawlikowski does not use this to humorous effect, as another filmmaker might have.
Instead, the style is composed and steady; the unbeautiful views of rural and small-town Poland of the 1960s create a visual impression as strong as My Summer. The ending seems possibly headed for melodrama, but Pawlikowski reins it in, concluding the story in a way that may or may not be what the viewer will want to happen, but that seemed to make sense.
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viewed 6/11/14 7:35 pm and posted 6/11/14
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