‘So, you are a Jewish nun?’

This chapter describes how Paweł Pawlikowski's Ida opens with austere images of young novice nuns going about their lives in a convent. It analyses Ida's opening shot of an eighteen-year-old novice named Ida, who is restoring the head of a sculpture of Jesus. It also discusses Ida's striking cinematography, which shows Pawlikowski's intention to make a film of static shots or lack of camera movement that drives the viewer into a meditative state. The chapter covers several aspects of Ida's cinematography that leads the viewer into its calm, silent, relaxed world, such as the film's melancholy monochrome palette, 4:3 aspect ratio, lighting and vertical framing. It explains the meaning of Ida's vertical framing, which is a large amount of space above the characters' head in the film that signify the importance of contemplation and hint the possibility of another world above.