During the Napoleonic Wars, two opposing officers cross paths in Saragossa, Spain, where they become enthralled by a mysterious manuscript. It tells of Alfonso van Worden, a captain navigating the treacherous Sierra Morena Mountains, beset by seductive princesses, a devious hermit, and the Spanish Inquisition. Wojciech Has’ adaptation of Jan Potocki’s novel became a 1960s countercultural favourite, championed by the Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia, who saw its winding narrative as a cinematic trip. Admirers included Luis Buñuel and David Lynch, while Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola helped restore and re-release the film.

This screening features an in-person introduction by Ally Pitts, host of A Russian & Soviet Movie Podcast (since 2017).

Part of Kinoteka On Tour (https://kinoteka.org.uk/), organised by the Polish Cultural Institute in London and supported by the Polish Film Institute and Klassiki Online (https://klassiki.online/).

Reviews

‘The director’s eye for baroque black-and-white imagery puts him behind only Bava and Welles, while the film’s sharp social satire gives heft to its ambition.’
★★★★★
David Fear, Time Out

‘This three-hour swirl of Polish phantasmagoria, from 1965, is an epic piece of japery; it celebrates visions and magic by means of labyrinthine storytelling.’
Michael Sragow, The New Yorker