Synopsis
A man and a woman meet in the ruins of post-war Poland. With vastly different backgrounds and temperaments, they are fatally mismatched and yet drawn to each other.
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Cast
- Joanna KuligZuzanna "Zula" Lichoń
- Tomasz KotWiktor Warski
- Borys SzycLech Kaczmarek
- Agata KuleszaIrena Bielecka
- Cédric KahnMichel
- Jeanne BalibarJuliette
- Adam WoronowiczConsul
- Adam FerencyMinister
- Adam SzyszkowskiCamp Guard
- Dražen ŠivakSleuth 1
- 100
Time
It deftly walks the line between appropriately somber and great, sophisticated fun. - 100
CineVue
This is the refined work of an artist at the peak of his powers, and, dare we say it, a masterpiece. - 100
The Guardian
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. - 91
The A.V. Club
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. - 90
New York Magazine (Vulture)
Pawlikowski understands the mythic, destructive pull such narratives have on us — as audience members and those swept up ourselves. - 90
The Hollywood Reporter
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. - 83
The Film Stage
If talk is cheap and deceptive — maybe even dangerous at times — in Cold War, music certainly is not. - 75
Slant Magazine
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.