The Hourglass Sanatorium

(1973)

★ 7.5 IMDb · 144 votes

Genres: Drama, Fantasy, Horror

Year: 1973

Runtime: 124 мин

Country: Poland

Director: Wojciech Jerzy Has

Cast: Jan Nowicki, Tadeusz Kondrat, Irena Orska, Filip Zylber, Halina Kowalska, Gustaw Holoubek, Mieczysław Voit, Bożena Adamek, Ludwik Benoit, Henryk Boukołowski

Plot

Jozef visits a dilapidated Sanatorium to see his father. Jozef undertakes a strange journey through the many rooms of the sanatorium, each which conjures worlds composed of his memories, dreams and nightmares.

The film depicts its protagonist, Joseph (Jan Nowicki), traveling 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.