Advance praise for Studying Ida
Sheila Skaffs meticulous attention to cinematic detail helps us understand the masteryand the meaningof Ida. Her close analysis of every scene illuminates Pawlikowskis approach. When she comments on how Ida mixes genres, or connects John Coltrane to Polish romanticism, Skaff brings fresh insights to a haunting movie. Of particular interest is her timely analysis of the polarizing effects of Ida in Poland: what she rightly calls filmic poetry engendered political controversy. Annette Insdorf, Columbia University Film Professor, and author of Indelible Shadows: Film and the Holocaust, and Double Lives, Second Chances: The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski
Studying Ida by Sheila Skaff is an intelligent and very efficient monograph on an Oscar-winning film, Pawe Pawlikowskis Ida (2013). Meticulously researched and elegantly written, the book reveals many of this films important layers, including politics and history. Skaff produces an insightful study and an indispensable teaching aid. J. Marek Haltof, Professor of Film Studies, Northern Michigan University
Sheila Skaff has written a lucid, intellectually expansive account of one of the most important Eastern European films of the last decade. She casts a wide net into relevant areas of Polish cinema, music and poetry to highlight Pawlikowskis sources for his best film to date, opening perspectives for readers to investigate what she rightly calls the cultural predicament Ida has posed. At a moment when highly politicized debates are raging in Poland about what memories of World War II are appropriate, Studying Ida makes a most useful contribution to the ongoing discussions. Stuart Liebman, Professor Emeritus of Film Studies, CUNY Graduate Center
There isnt a Polish film in recent memory that would have inspired as much admiration, debate, domestic controversy and international recognition as Pawe Pawlikowskis Ida. With this singularly focused study, Sheila Skaff proves herself once again to be a skillful and elegant reader of Polish film: at once fully aware of the cinematic traditions Ida belongs to, as well as swiftly navigating the complex historical context it emerges from. Micha Oleszczyk, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Film Studies, University of Warsaw
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Acknowledgements
Thanks to John Atkinson for his guidance and careful editing, and to Nikki Hamlett for the gorgeous cover. Thanks to David Leonard for his helpful comments.
Dedication
To my daughter, Julia Josephine.
First published in 2018 by
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E-ISBN 978-1-911-32563-5
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-1-911325-62-8 paperback
ISBN: 987-1-911325-63-5 ebook
Contents
Ida (Poland/Denmark 2013)
Language: Polish
Running Time: 82 minutes
Colour: Black & white
Production Company: Opus Film, Phoenix Film
Key Credits
Director: Pawe Pawlikowski
Screenplay: Pawe Pawlikowski & Rebecca Lenkiewicz
Directors of Photography: ukasz al & Ryszard Lenczewski
Editor: Janusz Kamiski
Producers: Eric Abraham, Piotr Dzicio, Ewa Puszczyska
Production Designer: Katarzyna Sobaska, Marcel Sawiski
Costume Designer: Aleksandra Staszko
Music: Kristian Eidnes Andersen
Key Cast
Wanda: Agata Kulesza
Ida/Anna: Agata Trzebuchowska
Lis: Dawid Ogrodnik
Szymon: Jerzy Trela
Feliks: Adam Szyszkowski
Mother Superior: Halina Skoczyska
Singer: Joanna Kulig
Synopsis
It is 1962 in Poland. Anna, an 18-year-old orphan placed in a convent as an infant, is preparing to take her vows to become a nun. Her Mother Superior urges her to visit her aunt, her only living relative, before her ordination. When they meet, her aunt, Wanda, tells Anna that Annas birth name is actually Ida, her family is Jewish and her parents were murdered during World War II. They decide to travel to Piaski, where Idas grandparents and parents lived before the war, and where the family was hidden by Polish neighbours during the Nazi occupation. Wanda suspects that they were also killed by the familys patriarch and wants to know why, and where their bodies were buried. The mans son, Feliks, now lives in their family home, to which Wanda argues that she has legal rights. Wanda extracts the fathers whereabouts from him. On their way to see him, she and Ida pick up a hitchhiker, a young jazz musician named Lis, who is going to play a concert at the same hotel where the two women will stay. The women locate the suspected killer, Szymon, in the hospital. He is old and sick. Wanda interrogates the man, breaking down when asking about a little boy. Ida guesses that the boy was Wandas son, and was killed along with her parents. Feliks comes to the hotel and makes a deal with Ida. He will show them where their relatives are buried, if Wanda drops her claims to the home and leaves his father alone. That evening, Ida and Lis discover a mutual attraction as he plays in the hotel bar. The next day, Felix leads Ida and Wanda into the woods, where he digs until he finds the remains of Idas parents and Wandas son. The women drive to a Jewish cemetery to bury the remains. Ida returns to the convent, although she decides that she is not ready to take her vows. Wanda returns to her apartment, where she commits suicide by jumping out of the window. Ida and Lis reunite at Wandas funeral. They spend the night together in Wandas bed. Lis asks Ida to stay with him. Instead, Ida puts on her habit and walks away from the city.
