Ida
Film poster
Directed byPaweł Pawlikowski
Written by
Produced by
  • Eric Abraham
  • Piotr Dzieciol
  • Ewa Puszczynska
Starring
Cinematography
Edited byJaroslaw Kaminski
Music byKristian Eidnes Andersen
Distributed by
Release dates
  • 7 September 2013 (2013-09-07) (TIFF)
  • 11 September 2013 (2013-09-11) (Poland)
Running time
82 minutes[1]
Countries
  • Poland
  • Denmark
  • France
  • United Kingdom
Languages
  • Polish
  • French
  • Latin
Box office$10.7 million[2]

Ida (pronounced [ida]) is a 2013 Polish drama film directed by Paweł Pawlikowski. The film has been nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film and Best Cinematography at the 87th Academy Awards.[3][4] It has won prestigious Polish and European industry awards, including Best Film awarded by the Polish Film Academy, and Best Film awarded by the European Film Academy.

Plot

In 1960s Polish People's Republic,[5] Anna, a young novice nun, is told by her prioress that before her vows can be taken, she must visit her family. Anna travels to visit her aunt Wanda, a heavy-drinking judge and former prosecutor associated with the Stalinist regime responsible for oppressing Polish anti-communist resistance soldiers. The aunt dispassionately reveals that Anna's actual name is Ida Lebenstein, and that her parents were Jewish and were murdered during World War II. Ida decides she wants to find their resting place. She and Wanda embark on a journey that both sheds light on their past and decides their futures.

Cast

Production

The screenplay was written by Rebecca Lenkiewicz, who is mostly known as an English playwright, and the director Paweł Pawlikowski. The character of Wanda Gruz is based on Helena Wolińska-Brus, whom Pawlikowski met in the 1980s while she was living in England.[6] The first version of the screenplay was written in English by Lenkiewicz and Pawlikowski; Pawlikowski then translated the screenplay into Polish and revised it.[7]

Reception

Ida has a 96% rating based on 115 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes,[8] and a "Universal acclaim" score of 90 out of 100 based on 35 reviews on Metacritic.[9] A. O. Scott of the New York Times named Ida the second best film of 2014.[10] David Denby of The New Yorker has called Ida a "masterpiece" and "by far the best movie of the year".[11][12] Peter Debruge is more reserved, writing in Variety that "...dialing things back as much as this film does risks losing the vast majority of viewers along the way, offering an intellectual exercise in lieu of an emotional experience to all but the most rarefied cineastes."[13]

Box office

Grossing more than $3.6 million at the North American box office, the film has been described as a "crossover hit", especially for a foreign language film.[14] Nearly 500,000 people watched the film in France, making it one of the most successful Polish-language films ever screened there.[15]

Accolades

Ida was screened in the Special Presentation section at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival[16] where it won the FIPRESCI Special Presentations award.[17] Among other festivals Ida won Best Film at Gdynia, Warsaw, London, Bydgoszcz, Minsk, Gijón, Wiesbaden, Kraków. The film is also widely recognized for Agata Kulesza's and Agata Trzebuchowska's performances, and for the cinematography by Ryszard Lenczewski and Łukasz Żal.

The film was honoured by the national Polish Film Academy as the Best Film of 2013, winning in three other categories, and nominated in seven additional categories. The European Film Academy nominated the film in seven categories, winning 5, including Best European Film and People's Choice Award, at the 27th European Film Awards.[18] The film has received a nomination at the 72nd Golden Globe Awards for Best Foreign Language Film.[19] The British Academy of Film and Television Arts nominated film for Best Film Not in the English Language and Best Cinematography at the 68th BAFTA Awards. It has been also recognised by Swedish Film Institute (50th Guldbagge Awards) and Spanish Academy of Arts and Cinematographic Sciences (29th Goya Awards).

The film has been selected by the European Parliament for the Lux Prize. Thanks to this award, it has been screened in every one of the 28 EU Member States and has been translated into all 24 EU languages.

Controversy and criticism

The film was criticized by some for its perspective on Polish-Jewish and Christian-Jewish relations.[20] Some have argued that the Poles in the film are portrayed negatively as being anti-Jewish, co-responsible for the Holocaust, although thousands of Poles were also killed by the Germans for helping and hiding the Jews.[21] Conversely, others have argued that Ida's aunt Wanda Gruz, a Jewish woman, was portrayed negatively in the film as someone who collaborated with the Soviets and persecuted the Polish underground opposition.[22][21][23]

Legacy

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (December 2014)

The film's portrayal of communist Poland in the 1950s and 1960s may be compared with the 2009 Polish drama Reverse, while its examination of Polish-Jewish relations during World War II has elements in common with the 2012 thriller Aftermath. It has stylistic similarities to New Wave films such as Innocent Sorcerers and The 400 Blows.[23]

See also

References

  1. ^ "IDA (12A)". British Board of Film Classification. 28 July 2014. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  2. ^ "Ida (2014) - International Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2 September 2014.
  3. ^ "Oscars: Poland Anoints 'Ida' as Candidate for Foreign-Language Academy Award". Variety. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
  4. ^ "Oscar Nominations 2015: See The Full List". Huffington Post. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
  5. ^ Stevens, Dana (2 May 2014). "Ida: A journey you won't forget". Slate. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
  6. ^ Fuller, Graham (May–June 2014). "Review: Ida". Film Comment. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  7. ^ Bloom, Livia (5 May 2014). "Courage of Conviction: A Conversation with Ida Director Pawel Pawlikowski". Filmmaker. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  8. ^ "Ida". 2 May 2014. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  9. ^ "Ida Reviews - Metacritic". Retrieved 21 October 2014.
  10. ^ Scott, A.O. (11 December 2014). "A. O. Scott's Top 10 Movies 2014: 'Boyhood' and More". NY Times. NY Times. Retrieved 15 December 2014. 2: Pawel Pawlikowski's "Ida" ... With breathtaking concision and clarity ... Mr. Pawlikowski penetrates the darkest, thorniest thickets of Polish history
  11. ^ Denby, David (27 May 2014). "'Ida': A Film Masterpiece". The New Yorker. Retrieved 10 January 2015. ... from the beginning, I was thrown into a state of awe by the movie's fervent austerity. Friends have reported similar reactions: if not awe, then at least extreme concentration and satisfaction. This compact masterpiece has the curt definition and the finality of a reckoning—a reckoning in which anger and mourning blend together.
  12. ^ Denby, David (13 December 2014). "The Ten Best Movies of 2014". The New Yorker. Retrieved 15 December 2014. Pawel Pawlikowski's "Ida" is by far the best movie of the year.
  13. ^ Debruge, Peter (10 September 2013). "Telluride Film Review: 'Ida'". Variety. Retrieved 13 January 2015. The film invites audiences to undertake a parallel journey while withholding much of the context (historical backstory as well as basic cinematic cues, like music and camera movement) on which engagement typically depends. It's one thing to set up a striking black-and-white composition and quite another to draw people into it, and dialing things back as much as this film does risks losing the vast majority of viewers along the way, offering an intellectual exercise in lieu of an emotional experience to all but the most rarefied cineastes. ((cite journal)): Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  14. ^ Scott Roxborough (19 August 2014). "Nun Drama 'Ida' Is Poland's Oscar Candidate". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
  15. ^ "L'incroyable succès du film "Ida" (aussi) aux Etats-Unis". 29 October 2014.
  16. ^ "Ida". 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. Archived from the original on 3 August 2013. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
  17. ^ "TIFF 2013: 12 Years a Slave wins film fest's top prize". Toronto Star. Reuters. 15 September 2013. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
  18. ^ "'Ida,' 'Leviathan' Top European Film Awards Nominations". Variety. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  19. ^ 72ND ANNUAL GOLDEN GLOBE® AWARDS NOMINEES ANNOUNCED. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  20. ^ Karolina Wigura (26 November 2013). "Dlaczego „Ida" tak gniewa. Częściowe podsumowanie dyskusji o filmie Pawła Pawlikowskiego" (in Polish). Kultura Liberalna.
  21. ^ a b "Idzie po nas Ida czyli film zrobiony z nienawiści. Przypominamy poruszający felieton prof. Aleksandra Nalaskowskiego z tygodnika "w Sieci"" (in Polish). w Sieci. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
  22. ^ Elżbieta Janicka (25 November 2013). "Janicka: Ogon, który macha psem". Krytyka Polityczna (in Polish).
  23. ^ a b ""Ida" pełna antysemickich stereotypów? Krytyka najnowszego filmu Pawlikowskiego". NaTemat.pl.
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