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Poland, United Kingdom, France · 2018
Rated R · 1h 28m
Director Paweł Pawlikowski
Starring Joanna Kulig, Tomasz Kot, Borys Szyc, Agata Kulesza
Genre Drama, Music, Romance
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Zula and Wiktor, two performers in Cold War Poland, begin an affair while in an ensemble together. As their differences become evident, the two struggle to continue their relationship. When they meet in Paris many years later, they must come to terms with their enduring feelings for each other.
Pawlikowski, who doesn’t waste a shot (nor compose one that isn’t a work of art on its lonesome), creates a gripping present tense from the clarity and efficiency of his storytelling: No matter how often he lurches us forward in time, we remain locked into the emotional sphere of his characters.
It’s a brave thing, to tell a story by omission, but Pawlikowski almost pulls it off.
New York Magazine (Vulture) by Emily Yoshida
Pawlikowski understands the mythic, destructive pull such narratives have on us — as audience members and those swept up ourselves.
This is the refined work of an artist at the peak of his powers, and, dare we say it, a masterpiece.
The minute-to-minute detail is absolutely stunning, from the period costumes to the on-set locations, there’s a searing authenticity to the time period that is undeniably absorbing. However, the almost too tightening restraint he gives his film forces us to quickly witness its events rather than be enveloped or moved by them.
The Hollywood Reporter by Leslie Felperin
Cold War, Pawel Pawlikowski's latest film, is bittersweet and unbearably lovely, a sad ballad of two lovers who can't stand to stay apart but also sometimes can't stand each other either.
The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw
The crystalline black-and-white cinematography exalts its moments of intimate grimness and its dreamlike showpieces of theatrical display. It is an elliptical, episodic story of imprisonment and escape, epic in scope.
The Film Stage by Rory O'Connor
If talk is cheap and deceptive — maybe even dangerous at times — in Cold War, music certainly is not.
The film is most exhilarating as a breathless vessel for mood, one that just so happens to conduct itself within reconstructed period settings that are as obsessively detailed as the reverently curated soundtrack.
It deftly walks the line between appropriately somber and great, sophisticated fun.
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