In Spain during the Napoleonic Wars, two enemy officers form an uneasy truce at a deserted Saragossa inn as they pore over a mysterious book recounting the amazing tales of Alphonse van Worden (Zbigniew Cybulski), a Walloon officer who came to Spain in 1739. A multitude of stories flows from the fantastical tome, variously including two Moorish princesses with their sights set on van Worden, a Cabalist, a sultan and a band of gypsies; raconteurs all, they in turn relate evermore ancient stories to van Worden about forbidden love, ghosts and magic. Championed by Luis Buñuel, the Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia and Francis Ford Coppola, this film is a mind-blowing cinematic experience.
Genres: Fantasy
Other Films by Wojciech Has
The Hourglass Sanatorium
Magic, dreams, a manor in decay. The Hourglass Sanatorium is one of the most original and beautiful films in Polish cinema—a visionary, artistic, poetic reflection on the nature of time and the irreversibility of death. The screenplay is an adaptation of the fantasy fiction of Jewish author Bruno Schulz, one of the most renowned Polish prose …