Whereas Polanski's The Pianist focused on the life of a Jew in Nazi-occupied Europe, Pawel Pawlikowski's hauntingly austere and minimalist film Ida takes us to post-war Poland and the era of Stalinist-influenced communism. Anna is a young novice nun instructed to visit her family before taking her vows, who learns from her aunt that she is actually a Jew by the name of Ida Lebenstein who was put into the convent by her parents so that she could avoid death at the hands of the Nazis. Agata Trzebuchowska, who plays Ida, is a true revelation - an actress with a wonderfully expressive and mesmerising face - but perhaps the real beauty lies in the black and white cinematography. The unusual compositions, often with characters foregrounded against expansive backdrops, enhances the stark landscapes and feeling of isolation and confusion Ida experiences, make Ida a visually poetic film as much as an emotionally resonant one.
