The title of Pawel Pawlikowski’s film, his first since 2013’s Oscar-winning Ida, is a double reference: one is to the great post-WWII conflict, and the other is to a relationship of similar toxicity on a smaller scale. Poland, 1949: while scouting players for his folk troupe, Wiktor (Tomasz Kot) comes across the rambunctious Irena (Agata Kulesza) and is immediately taken with her misanthropic charm. What follows is a narrative that takes in two decades of cultural and political history with our capricious protagonists in the foreground, transitioning from folk to jazz, assuming new identities and refashioning their lives—while falling in and out of love.
Pawlikowski has made a masterful anti-romance, shot — like Ida — in magnificent monochrome and powerfully, even zealously, portraying the dread of a generation that lived through WWII but was never quite able to move past it. Rich in humour, music and the intimate entanglements of love and power, the movie blindsides us with its emotional wallop.
Talking Pictures is a monthly matinee series catering to the 55+ community (but welcoming all ages). Patrons are encouraged to stay and chat about the movie and enjoy coffee and cookies on the house. Tickets are only $10, or two for $16.
The lovingly handpicked soundtrack, ranging from darkly mesmerizing folk curiosities to torchy blues standards to a climactic, ethereal wave of Glenn Gould-interpreted Bach, is perhaps the most invaluable below-the-line contribution to a film crafted with almost eerie exactitude…
Guy Lodge, Variety
A glorious throwback – a film made with a verve and lyricism which rekindles memories of the glory days of European New Wave cinema. Decades-spanning romantic drama that never loses its ironic edge. Pawlikowski invokes memories of Milos Forman, Jiri Menzel and François Truffaut at the start of their careers. The film never loses its intimate and playful quality. The film retains a quiet humour throughout.
Geoffrey Macnab, The Independent
Bittersweet and unbearably lovely.
Leslie Felperin, Hollywood Reporter
Pawel Pawlikowski
Joanna Kulig, Tomasz Kot, Borys Szyc, Agata Kulesza, Cédric Kahn, Jeanne Balibar
Poland/UK/France
2018
In Polish, German, Yiddish and Ukrainian with English subtitles
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Credits
Screenwriter
Pawel Pawlikowski, Janusz Glowacki
Cinematography
Lukasz Zal
Editor
Jaroslaw Kaminski
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