The sanatorium for the obituary

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Movie
German title The sanatorium for the obituary
Original title Sanatorium pod klepsydrą
Country of production Poland
original language Polish
Publishing year 1973
length 119 minutes
Rod
Director Wojciech Has
script Wojciech Has
production Film Polski
music Jerzy Maksymiuk
camera Witold Sobociński
cut Janina Niedźwiecka
occupation

The sanatorium on the obituary (Polish original title: Sanatorium pod klepsydrą ) is a Polish feature film from 1973 . Directed by Wojciech Has , who also acted as a screenwriter. The story is told of Józef, who wants to visit his dying father in a mysterious nursing home. What follows is a series of surreal events that are shaped by personal memories and dreams of Józef. The film is based on the book Das Sanatorium zur Sanduhr , by the Polish author Bruno Schulz . The film won the Jury Prize at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival .

content

Józef, whose father is in a sanatorium, takes the train to get there, hoping to find the seriously ill still alive. The world through which he travels appears dreamlike and unreal. The train stops and a train driver asks him to leave the train. When Józef reaches the sanatorium, he finds it in a dilapidated state and it seems as if no one cares about the patients of the sanatorium. To find out about his father's condition, Józef speaks to a doctor. He informs Józef that his father is still living here in the sanatorium, but since the time in the sanatorium has been postponed, the death that had already overtaken his father in his home country has not yet occurred here. Józef soon realizes that the time in the sanatorium is not normal. It seems as if the nursing home is on a different time frame on which Józef is able to travel back to his childhood.

A random sequence of fantastic events, grotesque scenes and adventurous metamorphoses tell of different episodes from Józef's childhood. Among other things, the relationship with his eccentric father, who lives together with birds in the attic of the family house, is described. Despite the adult appearance of Józef, he behaves childish and playful. People around Józef, including his parents, treat him as a child. He is friends with a boy named Rodolf who has an antique stamp album. The names on the stamps trigger a wave of associations and a desire for adventure in Józef, but shortly afterwards Józef is arrested by a mysterious unit of soldiers because his dreams were viewed in higher circles as inappropriate. Józef wonders: How does that fit together? Guilt, he believes, is "the rapid decay of time that is not monitored by anyone". Wasn't it reprehensible to manipulate time as it was done here?

Józef's private memories and dreams are linked to the social image of Poland after the First World War , reflect the events of the Holocaust and reports on the state of Poland after the Second World War .

criticism

"A fantastic, poetic film based on texts by the writer Bruno Schulz, full of symbolism and narrated with a dense atmosphere."

- film service

production

The sanatorium on the obituary is not exclusively an adaptation of the novel The Sanatorium on the Hourglass , but is also based on other works by the author Bruno Schulz . In an interview Wojciech Has spoke about Schulz: “Schulz's books have been with me since my early youth. His work had a huge impact on my work as a director. This is the reason why the film adaptation of The Sanatorium at the Hourglass was so important to me. However, my aim was not to make a literal adaptation of the book, but to do justice to Schulz's poetic work: its poetry and atmosphere, its colors and shapes. ”The film was produced by Zespół Filmowy Silesia. The shooting took place at the Wytwórnia Filmów Fabularnych film studios in Łódź .

publication

After the filming was finished, the Polish authorities withheld the release of the film due to content that was critical of the regime. The film was screened against the Polish authorities at the Cannes International Film Festival in 1973 . The Cannes jury, headed by Ingrid Bergman , awarded the film the Jury Prize. The film had its premiere in Poland on December 11, 1973. As part of Martin Scorsese Presents: Masterpieces of Polish Cinema , the film was restored along with 20 other Polish film classics.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Nick Hodge: Wojciech Has and the Interpretation of Dreams . In: Krakow Post . Lifeboat Ltd. August 7, 2010. Retrieved December 27, 2010.
  2. ↑ a b Sanatorium pod klepsydrą ( Polish ) In: Filmpolski.pl . Retrieved December 27, 2010.
  3. ↑ Juries 1973 . In: festival-cannes.com . Retrieved December 27, 2010.
  4. ^ Sanatorium pod Klepsydra . In: festival-cannes.com . Retrieved April 19, 2009.
  5. ^ Martin Scorsese Presents: Masterpieces of Polish Cinema
  6. ↑ Martin Scorsese Presents 21 Masterpieces