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Wojciech Jerzy Has
Acclaimed for his surreal vision, explore a selection of works from the great Polish filmmaker.
For many decades, Has (1925-2000) seemed perilously close to being recognised as a one-film director, so disproportionately famous was The Saragossa Manuscript. However, as dazzling as that masterpiece undoubtedly is, he also produced an impressive body of work comprising 14 features and 12 shorts. And Has’ ostentatiously extravagant, quasi-Surrealist, distinctly Wellesian sensibility emerged fully formed with his 1957 feature debut The Noose.
Whether in black and white or colour, Academy or widescreen, Has was a great visual stylist and a superb director of actors (especially Zbigniew Cybulski, Gustaw Holoubek and Barbara Krafftówna – all Polish A-list talent). This collection reveals Has’ strong affinity with themes of nostalgia and the inexorable pull of history, peppered with the filmmaker’s distinctive use of sarcasm.
Michael Brooke, season curator
The Hourglass Sanatorium The Hourglass Sanatorium
Fantasy 1973 119 mins Director: Wojciech Jerzy Has
The first screen adaptation of Bruno Schulz’s novella is an opulently strange trip through a Polish-Jewish looking-glass.
The Doll The Doll
Drama 1968 153 mins Director: Wojciech Jerzy Has
Widescreen adaptation of Bolesław Prus’s 1870s-set novel about a man who cannot escape his class straitjacket.
The Saragossa Manuscript The Saragossa Manuscript
Fantasy 1965 183 mins Director: Wojciech Jerzy Has
During the Napoleonic wars, a soldier discovers a strange manuscript that reveals endless stories-within-stories. Wojciech Has' opus is a major cult film of the 60s, revered by Luis Buñuel, David Lynch and Jerry Garcia.
The Noose The Noose
Drama 1958 98 mins Director: Wojciech Jerzy Has
Wojciech Has’ dazzling feature debut, a bleak, mordantly funny, all too human portrait of an alcoholic.
How to Be Loved How to Be Loved
Drama 1962 98 mins Director: Wojciech Jerzy Has
An actress struggles to reconcile the choices of her past in this distinct depiction of the German Occupation from a female perspective.