The Hour-Glass Sanatorium
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| The Hour-Glass Sanatorium | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Wojciech Has |
| Produced by | Film Polski |
| Written by | Wojciech Has |
| Starring | Jan Nowicki Jozef Kondrat Irena Orska Gustaw Holoubek |
| Music by | Jerzy Maksymiuk |
| Cinematography | Witold Sobocinski |
| Release date(s) | 1973 |
| Running time | 124 min. |
| Language | Polish |
| IMDb profile | |
The Hour-Glass Sanatorium (Polish: Sanatorium Pod Klepsydrą) is a 1973 Polish film directed by Wojciech Has. It is an adaptation of Bruno Schulz's story collection Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass (Sanatorium Pod Klepsydrą). The film won the Jury Prize at Cannes in 1973. It is also known as "The Sandglass" in English speaking countries.
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[edit] Synopsis
The film depicts its protagonist, Joseph (Jan Nowicki), travelling through a dream-like world, taking a dilapidated train to visit his dying father in a sanatorium. When he arrives at the hospital, he finds the entire facility is going to ruin and no one seems to be in charge, or even caring for the patients. Time appears to behave in unpredictable ways, reanimating the past in an elaborate artificial caprice.
The many occurrences in this visually potent phantasmagoria include Joseph re-entering childhood episodes with his eccentric father (who lives with birds), being arrested by a mysterious unit of soldiers, reflecting on a girl he knew in his boyhood and bringing historic wax figures to life with names from a postage stamp album. Throughout his strange journey, an ominous blind train conductor reappears like a death figure.
Has also adds a series of reflections on the Holocaust that were not present in the original novel, reading Schulz's prose through the prism of the author's tragic death during World War II and the demise of the world he described.
[edit] Cast
- Jan Nowicki as Joseph
- Jozef Kondrat as Jacob
- Irena Orska as Mother
- Gustaw Holoubek as Dr. Gotard
- Halina Kowalska as Adela
- Filip Zylber as Rudolph
- Bozena Adamek as Bianca
- Jerzy Przybylski as M. de V.
- Mieczyslaw Voit as Train Conductor
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- The Hour-Glass Sanatorium at the Internet Movie Database
- Journey into the Underworld -- an essay on the film
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| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Slaughterhouse-Five |
Jury Prize, Cannes 1973 tied with The Invitation |
Succeeded by no award 1974-1979 The Constant Factor (1980) |
