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Ida Movie Review

Ida is a 2013 Polish drama film directed by Pawel Pawlikowski and starring Agata Trzebuchowska. It is such a boring movie.

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“You’ve no idea of the effect you have, do you?“

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In 1962 Poland, a young woman is on the verge of taking vows as a Catholic nun. Orphaned as an infant during the German occupation of World War II, she must now meet her aunt. The former Communist state prosecutor and only surviving relative tells her that her parents were Jewish. The two women embark on a road trip into the Polish countryside to learn the fate of their family.

While I do consider this plot interesting on surface with a great hook to it and a terrific central mystery, the movie’s execution of that plot is so weak that I quickly lost interest in it. Certainly, a couple of conversations and those understated emotional moments are strong, but for the most part the film consists of blank, pointless scenes of nothingness. It represents everything that those who despise European arthouse cinema would say – it is very slim in plot and overly pretentious.

Agata Trzebuchowska did a pretty solid job for someone who was literally taken from the streets (from a café to be precise) to act as the protagonist. She is expressive and quite memorable. I also really liked Agata Kulesza in a solid role as well.

Ida is technically strong, there is no doubt about it. Its stark, crisp black-and-white cinematography is strikingly gorgeous, artistic and very classical. The entire film benefits from its great style, some excellent imagery at display and that 50s and 60s European cinema feel to it.

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However, that is also its problem. Ida was very much influenced by the works of Bresson and Bergman during that period, and it shows in every single frame. Pawel Pawlikowski copies that style without ever making something truly new and/or original. The dialogue is overly sparse for my liking, the story is very thin and the great visuals are simply wasted here. It did not deserve its Oscar at all, especially in that tough year when it comes to competition.

Ida looks great owing to terrific black-and-white cinematography, a classic European arthouse feel to it, and it features solid performances too. However, Pawlikowski mostly copies this particular style without ever doing anything new with it, the story is thin and the film’s pace is utterly dull and monotonous. This film winning an Oscar over the greatness that is ‘Leviathan’ and also ‘Wild Tales’ was a travesty.