The Hourglass Sanatorium - 1973 - 7/10
AKA - Sanatorium Pod Klepsydra
AKA - The Sandglass

Difficult, at times baffling, journey into memory.
Józef arrives at the sanatorium where his father is dying – check that – has died.
The director says death has been suspended, as they manipulate time.
Father is dead, yet he is not dead (he exists in Józef’s memory).
The labyrinthian institute seems the de facto maze of recollection.
His childhood in the boisterous shtetl mixes with historical personages and incidents.
Waxwork mannikins suggest, but do not illuminate.
Logic and linearity are submerged, memory is deceptive and cluttered.
Much of this eluded me. I know little of Polish history, nor have I read many stories by Bruno Schultz, on which this is based.
While I was often lost, the visuals, surrealistic and dreamlike, kept me riveted throughout.