Rekopis znaleziony w Saragossie (1965)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

Wojciech Has

Writers:

Tadeusz Kwiatkowski (writer)
Jan Potocki (novel)

Release Date:

9 February 1965 (Poland)

Genre:

Drama | Fantasy

Plot:

In the Napoleonic wars, an officer finds an old book that relates his grandfather's story, Alfons van Worden...

Plot Keywords:

Inquisition | Place Name In Title | Incest | Cult Favorite | Flashback

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Zbigniew Cybulski	...	Alfonse Van Worden
Iga Cembrzynska	...	Princess Emina
Elzbieta Czyzewska	...	Donna Frasquetta Salero
Gustaw Holoubek	...	Don Pedro Velasquez
Stanislaw Igar	...	Don Gaspar Soarez
Joanna Jedryka	...	Zibelda
Janusz Klosinski	...	Don Diego Salero
Bogumil Kobiela	...	Senor Toledo
Barbara Krafftówna	...	Camilla de Tormez
Jadwiga Krawczyk	...	Donna Inez Moro
Slawomir Lindner	...	Van Worden's father
Krzysztof Litwin	...	Don Lopez Soarez
Miroslawa Lombardo	...	Van Worden's mother
Jan Machulski	...	Count Pena Flor
Zdzislaw Maklakiewicz	...	Don Roque Busqueros

Also Known As:

Rękopis znaleziony w Saragossie (Poland)
The Saragossa Manuscript

Runtime:

124 min | France:175 min (director's cut) | 182 min

Country:

Poland

Language:

Polish

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:15 (DVD rating) | Finland:K-16

Filming Locations:

Olsztyn near Czestochowa, Poland

Company:

Kamera Film Unit

Trivia:

One of very few films in which Zbigniew Cybulski plays without his dark glasses.

Quotes:

Alfonse Van Worden: I must have been put to sleep with a potion and taken to the gallows.
Donna Rebecca Uzeda: Then you got under the Zota brothers' gallows?
[he nods]
Donna Rebecca Uzeda: And found them both hanged?
Alfonse Van Worden: Do they, by chance, have the habit of coming down?
Donna Rebecca Uzeda: Very often, usually at night.

What a film!!!

I saw this one on TV many years ago and I was captivated! In the second change I had, I recored it on video and when my cassete was destroyed, I made a hopeless search in the internet, only to find that soon I could buy it on DVD. And I did. I just can't get away from this masterpiece of cinematography. Based on a book, clearly inspired from the 1001 nights, telling a story inside a story, inside a story (I love this), with a lot of Jorge Louis Borges magic I guess, celebrates the true joy of cinema, where nothing is more important that watch the film itself! The story is incredible, but just, doesn't matter! All I want with this one, is to see it again and again, not trying to understand the dark parts of it, or the connections between the stories, or to find my way out of the labyrinth that is build around you as you continue more inside its plot, but just to loose myself in it, be a part of it, and not wish to get out.

Not for everyone, but probably a great choice if you don't like Chuck Norris too much!