IDA

 WIDER CONTEXTS (IDA)

production contexts: 

- First film by the director made in Polish

- Funded by Polish institute 

- Uses personnel from Polish Film Industry (employment)

- Filmed on location in Poland

Social cultural historical political:

HISTORICAL + POLITICAL - German occupation, Holocaust, Stalinism 

Set Poland 1962

- After Second World War - communist rule 

- Many Polish Jews died - Holocaust victims 

- After 1945 Poland a mostly homogenous nation

- After Stalin's death in 1953 - some relaxation of political pressure from Soviet Union

Early 1960's economic problems 

SOCIAL CULTURAL 

- Domination of Communist rule - closed society and political system impacts on social and cultural life 

- Early mass scene in 1960's Poland

- Anna - a novice (Poland is predominantly Catholic by faith)

- Her aunt Wanda - a woman who is in a high position in the legal profession - a state prosecutor under Stalinism 

- This is unusual or unconventional for the context of the times, a male dominated society

- Echoes of Louis Malle's Au Revoir L'Enfant, a film about a young jewish boy in France who is hidden in a Catholic boy's school during the Second World War. 

KEY ELEMENTS OF FILM FORM IN IDA 

• Monochrome - effective for historical setting, mood, themes and wider contexts 
• Compactness - 80 minute duration means on the boundaries of short film and future film - links to layers of history at the heart of the narrative 
• Cinematography - established place, themes of alone-ness / loneliness, secrecy, guilt, violence, identity and origins 

key narrative developments so far:

• Ida has been sent to her aunt, discovers she is jewish 
• Ida and her aunt go on a road trip  out of town (Ida's parents house who is now owned by someone else) to find where her parents died and where they are buried 
• Aunt gets arrested for drink driving (cynical and lonely woman) 

CLOSE SEQUENCE ANALYSIS 

Examine how miss en scene, colour and lighting contribute to the films themes and ideas. Refer closely to selected sequences 

Belonging - through the lens of Post War Poland, mass division 

Contrasting ideas of femininity - Ida (Nun, represses her expression) Aunt (Promiscuous, job of power, in touch with her feelings/sexuality) They both judge each other 

Untraditional holocaust film 

Isolation

AUNT WANDA'S EXIT

- Lack of other characters in sequence; isolation, dies alone and doesn't consider ida as family 

- Contrapuntal music ironic classic, empty depressed woman - waits for crescendo to jump

- Lingering mid shot after she jumps, cigarette still burning - her presence still there (later, her clothes and Ida) 

- Wanda starts the film and ends depressed - subverts expectations 

- Ida not rescue her (also Ida goes against expectations at the end)