Feb 28 - THE HOURGLASS SANATORIUM (1973)

Director: Wojciech Jerzy Has
With: Halina Kowalska, Jan Nowicki, Irena Orska
Spoken Languages: Polish, Yiddish
Subtitles: English
Info: 1973 | Poland | 124 min
Date/Time: Saturday February 28th, 21:20

A surrealist gem of Polish cinema, based on the short stories of the Polish-Jewish writer Bruno Schulz.

When Jozef visits his father in a decaying sanatorium, he finds him suspended in a twilight zone between life and death. His journey through the morgue and its many rooms unfolds into a step back in time: a fairytale-like journey through a fantastical past of Poland. Myths, folk traditions, overflowing histories, and Talmudic motifs sketch a Poland as Schulz described it: elusive.

Through a disillusioning, dreamlike lens, director Has offers a unique reflection on Jewish life in Poland, from hysterical heydays to disturbing persecutions. The boundaries between fact and fiction, past and present, dream and reality all dissolve in this richly symbolic Polish fable. THE HOURGLASS SANATORIUM (1973) was banned by the Polish government, but was fortunately smuggled across the border, eventually winning the Jury Prize at Cannes.

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