Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Cold War’ on Prime Video, a Gorgeous Romance Reminiscent of ‘Casablanca’

What would have happened if Ingrid Bergman hadn’t gotten on that plane at the end of Casablanca? Polish director Paweł Pawlikowski’s 2018 film, Cold War, released in the U.S by Amazon Studios, offers an answer to that question. Shot in beautiful black and white and a 4:3 aspect ratio, Pawlikowski, who earned three Academy Award nominations for the film (Best Foreign Language Film, Best Director, and Best Cinematography) proposes that wartime romances may be a lot less glamorous than you think. 

COLD WAR: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Wiktor Warski (actor Tomasz Kot) is a composer in Poland in 1949 putting together a prestigious choral ensemble with his producing partner, Irena (Agata Kulesza). When the locals come out to audition, he meets Zuzanna “Zula” Lichoń (Joanna Kulig) a young, beautiful student with a gorgeous voice that he takes an interest in.  Sharing an obsession with music, the two fall madly in love. But things get complicated quickly. Soon after the ensemble’s successful first show—followed by victory sex in the bathroom with Zula—Wiktor learns that the Soviet government would like to use his ensemble as a mouthpiece for pro-Stalin propaganda.

After two years of this, Wiktor is unable to take it anymore. He hatches a plan for him and Zula to escape to Paris—only Zula never shows, so he goes by himself, while she stays behind, singing the Soviet anthems. Two more years pass, and they meet again in Paris, where Wiktor is working at a jazz club. Both are dating other people, so they leave it at a steamy kiss, and pine for another three years, until Zula marries an Italian man, is able to legally travel, and moves to Paris for good. The fairytale romance they expect to follow falls to the things that plague all passionate relationships: Jealously, pettiness, bitterness, resentment. Eventually, Wiktor’s abandonment and Zula’s willful political ignorance catches up with both of them, and the two lovers—and the audience—are left questioning just how much love counts for.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Fans of the 1942 classic, Casablanca, will find many parallels between Wiktor and Zula and Rick and Ilsa: A woman who fails to show up for an escape plan, a heated reunion in a jazz club, the desperation with which Wiktor clutches Zula to him when they kiss, a great night in Paris, and a seemingly doomed romance from the start. Only, instead of doing the noble thing and insisting Zula stay away, as Humphrey Bogart does at the end of Casablanca, Wiktor greedily drinks up his time Zula. Similarly, Kulig’s Zula is a more complicated woman than Bergman’s Ilsa: She’s self-indulgent, messy and just as crazy as Wiktor.

Performance Worth Watching: Kulig, an accomplished actor of stage and screen in Poland, shines in Cold War as Zula. Her lips quiver with emotion as she gazes longingly at Wiktor and a second later, her eyes harden with determination as the couple has yet another fight. It’s no wonder this performance earned her Best Actress at the European Film Awards.

Memorable Dialogue: At a party with Wiktor’s friends, Zula confronts her lover’s poet girlfriend, whose poetry she says she doesn’t get. “It’s a metaphor,” the poet replies. “That time doesn’t matter when you’re in love.”

Single Best Shot: Even at the film’s start, when they are falling in love, Wiktor and Zula are already fighting. Wiktor is ready to storm off, but at the last second he turns back—the first of many times the couple will return to each other.

Sex and Skin: Unlike in Casablanca, when it comes to the steamy sex scene in Paris in Act 2, Pawlikowski doesn’t cut away. It’s not gratuitous—the scene lasts no more than a few seconds—but it’s enough to feel their passion.

Our Take: Cold War is gorgeous in every sense of the word. When it comes to epic romances, Pawlikowski is not overly sentimental nor his he overly cynical. Love, he argues, is a beautiful thing—but it’s also ugly, confusing, destructive and restorative, all at once. Kot and Kulig share an electric chemistry, and Pawlikowski frames them with intentional, loving care. It may take you a few minutes to get into the rhythm of it—as is true with many American viewings of foreign films—but give yourself over to the story, and you’ll fall right in.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Beautiful cinematography, captivating performances, and a doomed love story—what’s not to like? One note, though: Don’t watch this one on your phone, if you can. Bust out that HDMI cable, turn off all your lights, put away your phone and give Cold War your full attention.

Stream Cold War on Prime Video