History Film / Ida

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''Ida'' is a 2013 film from Poland, directed by Pawel Pawlikowski.

''Ida'' is a 2014 film from Poland, directed by Pawel Pawlikowski.

* DullSurprise: The actress who plays Ida, Agata Trzebuchowska, in fact is not an actress. She was spotted in a cafe by one of director Pawlikowski's friends, and recruited to appear in the film. The result is a lot of blank stares, like when Anna/Ida does not so much as blink when her aunt tells her she's Jewish. Although she does quite splendidly throughout the whole film, and a more charitable contribution might be {{Emotionless Girl}}.

* HangingJudge / TheJudge: Wanda is a judge. She admits to Ida that in the early postwar years, she was "Red Wanda", the Hanging Judge that sent people to their deaths in Stalinist show trials.

* BodyguardBetrayal: Ida's parents and brother were killed by the Skibas, the Christian Poles who were hiding them in the woods. Afterwards, the Skibas took possession of their farm.

* ButNowIMustGo: After Wanda's death, Ida tries out a life of hedonism--letting her hair down, putting on a party dress and high heels, and sleeping with Lis. She asks him what they'll do next, and he talks excitedly about getting married. The next morning, she gets up, puts her nun's habit back on, and leaves, presumably headed back to the convent.

* AwfulWeddedLife: Lis mentions to Ida that he wants to avoid "vows of [his] own" for as long as possible, hinting that he's not actually interested in marriage; depending on the viewer, his mentions of marriage and a family to Ida at the end of the film is either excited or sarcastic.

* DullSurprise: The actress who plays Ida, Agata Trzebuchowska, in fact is not an actress. She was spotted in a cafe by one of director Pawlikowski's friends, and recruited to appear in the film. The result is a lot of blank stares, like when Anna/Ida does not so much as blink when her aunt tells her she's Jewish. Although she does quite splendidly throughout the whole film, and a more charitable contribution might be {{Tranquil Fury}}.

* WouldHurtAChild: Feliks murders Wanda's young son, along with Ida's parents. He tells Ida that she was only able to be saved because she was so young that she could be passed off as non-Jewish; otherwise she would have had the same fate.

* BittersweetEnding: Wanda loses interest in life and commits suicide, and Ida leaves Lis to travel back to the rigid and colorless convent. Importantly, the shot lingers not on her actually returning but on her walking the road between the convent (which no longer satisfies her) and the outside world (which she does not understand), caught between the two worlds. The only thing saving the film from a complete DownerEnding is that she and Wanda did find out what happened to their relatives and were able to give them a proper burial after their violent death, giving Wanda closure about her son.

* UnfortunateImplications: The movie sparked a lot of controversy in Poland, including accusations of slanderous depiction of Poles as antisemites and justifying communism.

'''Wanda''': I didn't say they were Jews.

* GreatOffscreenWar: The main theme is what happened DuringTheWar and the years after, and how Poland's traumas still overshadows life in the country in 1961.

* DullSurprise: The actress who plays Ida, Agata Trzebuchowska, in fact is not an actress. She was spotted in a cafe by one of director Pawlikowski's friends, and recruited to appear in the film. The result is a lot of blank stares, like when Anna/Ida does not so much as blink when her aunt tells her she's Jewish. Although she does quite splendidly throughout the whole film, and this troper interpreted her blink less stare as {{Tranquil Fury}}.

* DullSurprise: The actress who plays Ida, Agata Trzebuchowska, in fact is not an actress. She was spotted in a cafe by one of director Pawlikowski's friends, and recruited to appear in the film. The result is a lot of blank stares, like when Anna/Ida does not so much as blink when her aunt tells her she's Jewish.

* ButNowIMustGo: After Wanda's death, Ida tries out a life of hedonism--letting her hair down, putting on a party dress and high heels,

* TheOner: ''The Oner: TheMovie''. This film is filled with static shot after static shot, long shots in which the camera never moves, often in total silence. Possibly the most dramatic instance is Wanda's suicide scene. The camera is motionless, trained on the open window. Time passes, then Wanda crosses the frame from left to right. Time passes again. Wanda enters the frame again, and jumps out the window. Some more time passes as the camera continues to point at the window.