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Ida,

directed by Pawel Pawlikowski

(PG-13, 80 minutes)

In Ida, determining the motivation behind the actions of an 18-year-old novitiate nun in 1962 Poland is left largely up to the viewer. Imagination is necessary to fill the gaps in this unadorned drama. Young Anna (Agata Trzebuchowska) is not going to help. Perhaps growing up as an orphan in an austere convent taught her to keep her own counsel.

Mostly silent, she attempts push-back only when the convent's mother superior instructs her to visit her only relative, an aunt whom Anna never knew, before taking her vows. Anna's downcast eyes flicker briefly as she looks up and asks, "Do I have to go?"

The mother superior's affirmative answer leads Anna to pack a bag, get on a bus bound for Warsaw, and knock on the door of her aunt Wanda Grosz (Agata Kulesza). Dispensing with pleasantries, Wanda, a world-weary former Communist Party judge whose better days appear to be over, wastes no time in revealing that Anna's name is actually Ida Lebenstein, and her Jewish parents were killed during the Nazi occupation of Poland during World War II.

Then she dismisses the girl. Except she doesn't. A change of heart leads Wanda to embark on a road trip with Anna/Ida to a not too distant country house where Wanda and her sister Roza (Ida's mother) grew up, and where secrets of the past are buried.

The often high cost of discovering the truth guides the journey, shot in black and white and employing scenes so artfully framed in chilling light that they could fill a gallery with breathtaking photographs. A deliberate pace set by Pawel Pawlikowski's authoritative direction parses out dialogue sparingly, forcing the viewer to grab at the meaning of every word.

Trzebuchowska shows astounding reserve and emotional maturity in a challenging role. As a young, clearly smitten hitchhiking saxophone player (Dawid Ogrodnik) tells her character, "You don't realize the effect you have."

In Polish, with English subtitles.

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MovieStyle on 09/12/2014

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