The Hollywood Reporter by Todd McCarthy

Frame by frame, Ida looks resplendently bleak, its stunning monochromes combining with the inevitable gloomy Polish weather and communist-era deprivations to create a harsh, unforgiving environment.

Wall Street Journal by Joe Morgenstern

Pawel Pawlikowski's Ida, a compact masterpiece set in Poland in the early 1960s, gets to the heart of its matter with startling swiftness.

The New York Times by A.O. Scott

There is an implicit argument here between faith and materialism, one that is resolved with wit, conviction and generosity of spirit. Mr. Pawlikowski has made one of the finest European films (and one of most insightful films about Europe, past and present) in recent memory.

Los Angeles Times by Kenneth Turan

Spare, haunting, uncompromising, Ida is a film of exceptional artistry whose emotions are as potent and persuasive as its images are indelibly beautiful.

RogerEbert.com by Godfrey Cheshire

Riveting, original and breathtakingly accomplished on every level, Ida would be a masterpiece in any era, in any country.

Slate by Dana Stevens

There’s an urgency to Ida’s simple, elemental story that makes it seem timely, or maybe just timeless.

IndieWire by Greg Cwick

Pawlikowski doesn't punish his viewers, he simply challenges them. Take the vow to dedicate your attention to Ida and you’ll be rewarded deeply.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by Kiva Reardon

Favouring long takes over didactic scripting, Pawlikowski lets his powerful imagery carry the film.

Chicago Tribune by Michael Phillips

One of the year's gems.

Village Voice by Aaron Cutler

Ida unfolds partly as chamber play and partly as road movie, following the two women on a search for their dead beloveds' anonymous graves.

New York Post by Farran Smith Nehme

Both actresses are extraordinary, but Kulesza — bitter, sarcastic and tragic — carries the movie’s soul.

The Playlist by Jessica Kiang

If it does suffer slightly from an overall lack of urgency that will mean those looking for a more directly emotive experience may find it hard to engage with, the more patient viewer has rewards in store that are rich and rare indeed.

Portland Oregonian by Marc Mohan

Just as austere and demanding as you'd expect a black-and-white film about a Polish nun to be. Don't let that scare you, though.

The Dissolve by Scott Tobias

Ida’s piercing intimacy makes the deepest impression, but its vision is deceptively wide-reaching despite a scale that’s deliberately pared-down and small.

The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw

Every moment of Ida feels intensely personal. It is a small gem, tender and bleak, funny and sad, superbly photographed in luminous monochrome: a sort of neo-new wave movie with something of the classic Polish film school and something of Truffaut, but also deadpan flecks of Béla Tarr and Aki Kaurismäki.

Entertainment Weekly by Chris Nashawaty

With her brassy, determined aunt, Ida sets off to find answers and discovers life beyond the convent walls in this leisurely but satisfying journey.

Slant Magazine by Chris Cabin

Pawel Pawlikowski shows great empathy toward the idea of illusions as a way of attaining emotional stability in even the most brutal terrain.

Variety by Peter Debruge

It’s one thing to set up a striking black-and-white composition and quite another to draw people into it, and dialing things back as much as this film does risks losing the vast majority of viewers along the way, offering an intellectual exercise in lieu of an emotional experience to all but the most rarefied cineastes.