Best Foreign Film Oscar Nominee COLD WAR Directed by Pawel Pawlikowski - What a Bore

"Cold War" has received numerous honors & nominations for the 2019 Oscar Awards.  The nominations include Best Foreign Film (Poland), Best Dir. Pawel Pawlikowski and Best Cinematography.  In the category of best cinematography, it's a close race between ROMA & COLD WAR; both films are shot in black/white.  I'd cast my ballot for best cinematography for "Cold War." Cinematographer Lukasz Zal utilizes his stunning lens to enhance the film's mood and plot.  Other than the artistic film noir mystique, there's lots of torment & travel with little else to tell.  Zula (Polish Actress Joanna Kulig "Ida") plays the Polish ingenue; an aspiring young performer auditioning along with hundreds of youths to become part of a Polish folk singing/dancing traveling troupe.  Wiktor (Polish actor Tomas Kot "Gods") is the musical director assembling the company.  Wiktor sees something in Zula which is more than just her singing & dancing skills.  The two become besotted with each other & their ongoing relationship morphs into an angst riddled obsession that traverses Western & Eastern Europe.  The movie beings in Poland 1951 and ends there in 1959.  The film is bludgeoned with metaphors that fall flat.  The sexual tension that becomes corrosive & shrill.  The most highly charged scenes are in Paris where American jazz is infiltrating the club scene.  The purity of Polish Folk music yields to powerful government forces and worldly sophistication.  There are enigmatic que sera, sera scenarios.  Why does Zula want to return to her homeland after traversing the globe in glamorous style?  Why would Wiktor follow her back to Poland knowing he'd face years of imprisonment for defecting?  Music makes the world go round and it's a language of love.  Music is a way for people to connect and understand each other.  "Cold War" is a visually arresting film that falls short of raising one's pulse with any driving syncopation.   Que sera sera - The symbolic full circle metaphor is quite literal.  And, the eyes peering out of the fresco is a nod to the literary masterpiece "The Great Gatsby."  Egads! This arthouse film "Cold War" is an arduous bore.