The Saragossa Manuscript (1965)
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90% of critics liked it
(10 reviews) -
87% of users liked it
(1,267 ratings)
Alfons (Zbigniew Cybulski) is a young army captain who meets two women of Moorish ancestry at what appears to be a deserted inn near Madrid. They tell Alfons he is the descendant of a noble family and that he must undergo a series of challenging missions to prove himself. A magician tries to take… More Alfons (Zbigniew Cybulski) is a young army captain who meets two women of Moorish ancestry at what appears to be a deserted inn near Madrid. They tell Alfons he is the descendant of a noble family and that he must undergo a series of challenging missions to prove himself. A magician tries to take his soul, and he is visited by ghosts near the mountains of Madrid. Author Jan Poticki committed suicide a year after the symbolic and allusive book this movie was based on was published. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Directed By
- Wojciech Has
- Written By
- Tadeusz Kwiatkowski, Jerzy Skarzynski, Tadeusz Myszorek
- Genres
- Drama, Art House & International, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Comedy
Unrated,
- In Theaters
- May 21, 1999 Limited
- Studio
- Cowboy Booking International
Critic Reviews
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David Fear, Time Out New York
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.
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J. Hoberman, Village Voice
By any standard, a long strange trip.
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Derek Adams, Time Out
Infus[es] a similar unearthly cadenceo the swashbuckling genre that Jodorowski did to the western with El Topo.
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Stephen Holden, New York Times
These trials suggest a goofy, sprawling, all-purpose allegory so overstuffed with symbolism that it plays as a kind of epic spoof of the form.
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Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
It's not quite as life-changing as all that, but it's certainly playful and very interesting as a study of narrative flow.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
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Cast
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Zbigniew Cybulski
as Capt. Alfons van Worden
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Franciszek Pieczka
as Pascheco
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Leon Niemczyk
as Don Avadoro
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Elzbieta Czyzewska
as Frasquetta
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Bogumil Kobiela
as Toledo
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Adam Pawlikowski
as Cabalist
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Aleksander Fogiel
as Spanish nobleman
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Beata Tyszkiewicz
as Dona Rebeca Uzeda
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Gustaw Holoubek
as Don Pedro Velasquez
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Stanislaw Igar
as Don Gaspar Soarez
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Iga Cembrzynska
as Princess Emina
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Ludwik Benoit
as Pascheco's Father
- Edmund Fetting
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Kazimierz Opalinski
as Hermit
- Andrzej Kozak
- Iga Cembrzynska-Kondratiuk
- Joanna Jedryka
- Barbara Krafftowna
- Miroslawa Lombardo
- Slawomir Lindner
