Lesley Manville has quietly established herself one of the most accomplished actresses of her generation. Two awards for the stage, two awards for British TV, a golden globe,  an Emmy, and an Academy Award nomination for a supporting role . Her steadfast demeanor and sturdy characteristic fits perfect for the role of Dr. Joan Andrews in this. A role where she is in it over ninety percent of the time. It is her film. She is the lead. Playing a  woman who has had to fight and crawl, and struggle to get where she is. Overcoming odds to be one of the few female doctors in her field of psychology. A woman whose sheer drive and will is how she can survive martial law in Warsaw and be hunted. It’s based on a short story by Olga Tokarczuk, one of the most critically acclaimed writers ever from Poland. The film was an official selection at TIFF 2025 and barely made into MSPIFF this year. 

 “Winter of the Crow” feels like a spy movie without any spies. Dr. Joan Andrews bringing her new acquisition of a polaroid camera with and taking random pictures fills the void of espionage. It is her new toy and she uses it as such.  An emphasis that plays peerless in the film.  It is suspenseful and falls into the realm of historic fiction. The story takes place in 1981. The costuming for this fits perfect for early eighties and the politics is spot on. The subtraction of color and use of blue and gray and muted colors was the right choice. No doubt the writer is drawing on their experiences and other accounts. It feels experienced, it feels lived.

The film plays upon fate and destiny but heavy handed. It’s political and telling us everything is political and the only thing that breaks is imagination. and Crows seem to follow Dr. Andrews as if they haunt her. They hover over her. It’s also the name of the militia that has taken over Warsaw when she is invited to come to speak at a conference. That double use of crow is a little too on the nose. Having a visual representation of crows and the militia named crow pursuing her and her accomplices is being too clever for the story’s own good when the content and the suspense is working quite well. 

“Winter of The Crow” is great when it is not trying to be clever. When it seems natural. The third act seems a little predictable and not the real punch that it so richly needed. All the characters are flushed out and its production design and settings are great and memorable. Lesley Manville is terrific but it isn’t much of a suspense when I know that Dr. Andrews is never really in danger throughout all of it , even when things get treacherous. It feels that her character was made to be a mere vessel to view the life and struggles of the people of Warsaw, and if that is the case then we could have done without the cgi and prop birds hounding her. 7.5/10