Director
Pawel Pawlikowski
(IDA, MY SUMMER OF LOVE, THE WOMAN IN THE FIFTH)

Stars
Joanna Kulig, Tomasz Kot, Agata Kulesza and Borys Szyc

A music and performance driven romantic drama that spans 15 years and several European locations, COLD WAR is loosely based on the mercurial and passionate relationship shared by the real-life parents of director Pawel Pawlikowski. At the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, COLD WAR was the recipient of an 18 minute standing ovation where it won the Best Director award and was nominated for the Palme d’Or.

Shot in the same format as Pawel Pawlikowski’s Oscar-winning film IDA, this black and white historical drama begins in the aftermath of WWII in Poland, 1949. Pianist and music director Wiktor (Tomasz Kot) and his colleague Irena (Agata Kulesza) are travelling to number of villages to audition its impoverished locals for an upcoming musical ensemble that’s been commissioned by the Soviet state. From the moment that Wiktor lays eyes upon a beautiful, talented and strong-willed singer named Zula (Joanna Kulig), an irresistible attraction is formed, which leads to a love affair that will be dictated by events and effects of the Cold War.

Before seeing the visually and aurally stunning picture COLD WAR, there is some important advice for you to consider. The range of your sustained connection to this film is entirely dependent on your limitations of investment to fill in years at a time that have been purposefully omitted. I guarantee that you will have no difficulty whatsoever initiating an instant bond to the masterful opening act of COLD WAR. However, a change in climate resultant from the depiction of this love story thereafter and its conclusion is inevitable.

Poland’s official submission for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2019 Academy Awards matches its outstanding production with its equally mesmerising set-up and character introductions early on. A certain mystique and intense curiosity is drawn to the forming and firming flirtation unfolding that is spellbinding to watch. The manner in which Joanna Kulig portrays Zula and specific characteristics she possesses immediately reminded me of Florence Pugh’s scintillating acting display my number three movie from last year, LADY MACBETH. 

While the high quality of this production and its performances do not recede, the narrative does drop away considerably soon after the lofty jumps in time begin. I certainly appreciate a film that doesn’t succumb to obligatorily revealing every detail, but Pawel Pawlikowski has misjudged the extent and frequency of holding back. Perhaps those of you with greater knowledge of the political state of Poland during the time depicted, and even now, won’t quite feel the same dissatisfaction that I did. It is said that COLD WAR is eerily familiar for the people of Poland who lived through communism. For me, too many vital pages have been torn from chapters to keep this burning love story aflame. 

3 ½ stars
(but could have been so much more!)

Viewer Discretion
M (Mature themes, coarse language and sex)

Trailer
COLD WAR

Moviedoc thanks Palace Films for the invite to the screening of this film.

Review by Leigh for Moviedoc
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