Cold War (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]

This sweeping, delirious romance begins in the Polish countryside, where Wiktor (Tomasz Kot), a musician on a state-sponsored mission to collect folk songs, discovers a captivating young singer named Zula (Joanna Kulig, in a performance for the ages). Over the next fifteen years, their turbulent relationship will play out in stolen moments between two worlds: the jazz clubs of decadent bohemian Paris, to which he defects, and the corrupt, repressive Communist Bloc, where she remains—universes bridged by their passion for music and for each other. Photographed in luscious monochrome and suffused with the melancholy of the simple folk song that provides a motif for the couple’s fateful affair, Paweł Pawlikowski’s timeless story—inspired by that of his own parents—is a heart-stoppingly grand vision of star-crossed love caught up in the tide of history. DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES • New 4K digital master, supervised and approved by director Paweł Pawlikowski and director of photography Łukasz Żal, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio Soundtrack • New conversation between Pawlikowski and filmmaker Alejandro G. Iñàrritu • Press conference featuring Pawlikowski and Żal; actors Joanna Kulig, Tomasz Kot, and Borys Szyc; and producer Ewa Puszczynska • Documentaries from 2018 on the making of the film • Trailer • New English subtitle translation • PLUS: An essay by film critic Stephanie Zacharek