Zimna wojna (Pawl Pawlikowski, 2018)

Cold War tells the tempestuous love story between a musical director and a young folk singer in Poland, starting shortly after the war.He aspires to make it out of the country before the country's freedoms are completely curtailed under the communist yoke and the Iron Curtain fully becomes a reality. Her conviction is less certain. He duly escapes to France to play jazz piano in a nightclub and they meet again some years later, resuming their relationship, which is doomed due to her inability to settle down in a foreign land.
The couple are forced to make many compromises along the way and their arguments become more and more vitriolic, but in the end they are fated to be together. This could be problematic in terms of maintaning our engagement were it not for the characters being so fully rounded, a mix of self-interest, passion and stridency. The stark black and white photography is captivating, the numerous musical pieces linger in the memory and the jumps in the story are executed with maximum economy. It's quite a singular work and it's easy to see why Pawlikowski was considered worthy of Best Director award at Cannes for it.

7/10