Like Under the Skin, Ida is also a minimalist tale which focuses on a woman on a journey of self-discovery, but the similarities largely end there. If Under the Skin invited comparisons to Stanley Kubrick, Pawel Pawlikowski's film bears far more in common with the likes of Carl Theodor Dreyer, Robert Bresson and Ingmar Bergman. Ida is a nun in the 1960s who is sent from the convent to meet up with her aunt before taking her vows and discovers that she is in fact Jewish, and that her parents concealed her religious identity in order to protect her from the Nazis. The dialogue may be as sparse as the Communist-era architecture, but the imagery speaks volumes - each frame is a minor masterpiece, with evocative compositions bringing the characters to the fore and setting them against rich backdrops. Agata Trzebuckowski, who plays Ida, has a kind of classic look rarely seen in films today, and her performance balances expression and austerity perfectly in balance with the imagery.
