Winter of the Crow review – Lesley Manville magnificently on edge in intriguing cold war thriller
Manville’s academic psychologist finds herself trapped in a tower block wasteland in 1980s Warsaw. Bizarre and surreal details add to the sinister vibe Part cold war thriller, part Kafkaesque reverie, this movie takes us back to the sinister drear of Poland in 1981, when General Jaruzelski has just introduced martial law in reaction to the dangerous new mood of freedom occasioned by the Solidarity trade unions. The…
Key points
- Winter of the Crow is set in 1981 Warsaw after General Jaruzelski imposed martial law.
- Lesley Manville plays Professor Andrews, a British academic psychologist stranded without her passport.
- The film is directed by Kasia Adamik and adapted from a story by Olga Tokarczuk.
Winter of the Crow, a cold war thriller directed by Kasia Adamik, is set in Poland in 1981, shortly after General Jaruzelski introduced martial law in response to the Solidarity trade unions. The film is adapted from a story by Olga Tokarczuk titled Professor Andrews Goes to Warsaw.
Lesley Manville plays Professor Andrews, a British academic clinical psychologist known for a book on dreams. She arrives in Warsaw to give a lecture, but her talk is disrupted by students who shout that Poland itself is an oppressive asylum.
A descent into chaos
After the lecture, Andrews loses her bag and gives her passport to a postgraduate student named Alina, played by Zofia Wichlacz, so Alina can search the airport. Unable to stay in a hotel, Andrews lodges in a flat in a sketchy area belonging to Alina's relatives.
The next morning, Andrews sees a tank in the bleak, deserted tower block wasteland. The crackdown has begun, secret police are everywhere, and she has no passport, leaving her trapped in Poland for the foreseeable future.
an intriguing and disquieting movie
— The Guardian
Surreal details and pacing
The review describes the film as intriguing and disquieting, with bizarre and surreal details that add to its sinister atmosphere, such as the live carp people queue to buy for food and keep in the bath.
It notes that the storytelling impulse slows a little and suggests closer editing might have helped, though this could have meant losing some of those surreal touches.
