THE HOURGLASS SANITORIUM (1973)
4 stars
Radiance Films. Limited Edition UHD/Blu Ray. 3rd August
Original title: Sanatorium pod klepsydra
Also known as The Sandglass
If you fancy a slice of surreal insanity then welcome to THE HOURGLASS SANITORIUM from Poland, written and directed by Wojciech Has. I can’t say I am familiar with his work – Radiance are releasing his other well known film THE SARAGOSSA MANUSCRIPT in October – so an ideal opportunity to catch up, as it were.
This was adapted from a story collection ‘Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass’ by Polish-Jewish writer Bruno Schulz and was banned by the commie authorities. It was sneaked into the Cannes Film Festival and won the Jury Prize.
We start on a train. Strange, dissonant music on the soundtrack. Striking tableau full of interesting faces. Józef (Jan Nowicki) arrives at his destination and walks through the snowy landscape to an old, seemingly abandoned, decrepit building – the asylum of the title.
Eventually a somewhat disheveled nurse appears. He is there to visit his father and has booked a room to stay there a while. Everyone is sleeping. “… night never comes”, the nurse says. Not weird at all.
When he meets the doctor he is told his father is dead, but he can go and see him as the building has some kind of time warp in it, where his dad has traveled back in time to before his death.
Out of a window Józef sees himself arriving as he had done earlier. Utterly surreal…
Captivatingly bizarre and dreamlike, with a somewhat bonkers script by director Wojciech Has, this is visually stunning with gorgeous cinematography by Witold Sobocinski, and fabulous design from art director Andrezej Halinski alongside production designers Andrzej Płocki and Jerry Skarzynski.
Are these memories? Dreams? Nightmares? Hallucinations? The narrative wanders about without feeling the need to explain the ambiguity on show. It is filled with strange, weird characters and striking imagery. Both astonishing and confusing in equal measures – you will either be taken in by it or left scratching your head.
I look forward to seeing THE SARAGOSSA MANUSCRIPT in due course…
Steve Kirkham
EXTRAS
New audio commentary by Polish film expert Michael Brooke (2026)
Archival interview with production designer Jerzy Skarzynski by filmmaker Jerzy Wójcik (1997, 15 mins)
Accordion – acclaimed early short film from Wojciech Has (1947, 12 mins)
Plus reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow; Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by critic Ela Bittencourt and archival writing from Annette Insdor
Limited edition of 5000 copies.
