91
Metascore
35 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyThe Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyFrame 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.
- 100Village VoiceAaron CutlerVillage VoiceAaron CutlerIda unfolds partly as chamber play and partly as road movie, following the two women on a search for their dead beloveds' anonymous graves.
- 88New York PostFarran Smith NehmeNew York PostFarran Smith NehmeBoth actresses are extraordinary, but Kulesza — bitter, sarcastic and tragic — carries the movie’s soul.
- 83Portland OregonianMarc MohanPortland OregonianMarc MohanJust 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.
- 83The PlaylistJessica KiangThe PlaylistJessica KiangIf 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.
- 80The GuardianPeter BradshawThe GuardianPeter BradshawEvery 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.
- 80The DissolveScott TobiasThe DissolveScott TobiasIda’s piercing intimacy makes the deepest impression, but its vision is deceptively wide-reaching despite a scale that’s deliberately pared-down and small.
- 75Slant MagazineChris CabinSlant MagazineChris CabinPawel Pawlikowski shows great empathy toward the idea of illusions as a way of attaining emotional stability in even the most brutal terrain.
- 75Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyEntertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyWith her brassy, determined aunt, Ida sets off to find answers and discovers life beyond the convent walls in this leisurely but satisfying journey.
- 60VarietyPeter DebrugeVarietyPeter DebrugeIt’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.