A gem of Polish cinema, based on several short stories by Polish-Jewish writer Bruno Schulz.
When Jozef visits his father in a dilapidated sanatorium, he finds him in a twilight zone between life and death. His visit to the mortuary and its many rooms unravels into a journey back in time: a surreal, dreamlike voyage through a fantastical pseudo-past dominated by myths, folk traditions, historical reflection, and motifs from the Bible and the Talmud.
Through a disillusioned, fairytale-like lens, director Wojciech Has offers a unique reflection on the collective trauma of the Holocaust in Poland. Upon its release, the film was banned by the communist government but was smuggled across borders and went on to win the Jury Prize at Cannes.
This masterpiece is an unforgettable trip through a dreamlike world where the boundaries between fact and fiction, past and future, dream and reality blur. A Polish fairytale filled with surrealist elements, vivid symbolism, and extraordinary cinematography by Witold Sobocinski.