The Saragossa Manuscript (1965)

90% of critics liked it
(10 reviews)
89% of users liked it
(1,211 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

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 2 hr. 55 min.
Directed By: Wojciech Has
Written By: Tadeusz Kwiatkowski, Jerzy Skarzynski, Tadeusz Myszorek
Genres: Drama, Art House & International, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Comedy

In Theaters: May 21, 1999 Limited
On DVD: Mar 26, 2002
Studio: Cowboy Booking International

Critic Reviews

J. Hoberman, Village Voice
By any standard, a long strange trip.
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.
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.
Anton Bitel, Eye for Film
a maddening celebration of the power of narrative to amuse, bewilder, disorient and entrap.
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.
Derek Adams, Time Out
Infus[es] a similar unearthly cadenceo the swashbuckling genre that Jodorowski did to the western with El Topo.
Jake Euker, F5 (Wichita, KS)
A wonderful, surreal assault on narrative; it's funny, intelligent, and a ridiculously sly good time.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
An interesting failure.
Marjorie Baumgarten, Austin Chronicle
The three-hour movie is frequently described as a Chinese box of imaginative stories within stories based on an early 19th-century novel by Jan Potocki.
Jeremy Heilman, MovieMartyr.com
Surely one of the most convolutedly plotted films ever to reach the silver screen.

Read all 10 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Bob S

Great movie. Kinda sucky American DVD though. The aspect ratio looks wrong and no extras to speak of. This film has so much going on it practically cries out for a scholarly commentary.
Stella D

a stupendous surrealist mindfuck of a movie based on what can only be a fantastic book by a complete madman...takes place in spain but filmed in polish and from there it only gets weirder. the intricate story structure folds back on itself multiple times, with characters including… More
a stupendous surrealist mindfuck of a movie based on what can only be a fantastic book by a complete madman...takes place in spain but filmed in polish and from there it only gets weirder. the intricate story structure folds back on itself multiple times, with characters including gypsies, bandits, moorish princesses and a kabbalist. i probably need to watch it again to get them all straight but i'm a sucker for films that begin with a magical book :) btw this film was made in 1965, not 1999!
Lesley N

Polish black and white film about Alfonso van Worden, captain in the Walloon Guard. What happens to him, and then what happens to other people, and then stories that turn into other stories ..... a bit like the Thousand and One Arabian Nights, except it only took me four consecutive… More
Polish black and white film about Alfonso van Worden, captain in the Walloon Guard. What happens to him, and then what happens to other people, and then stories that turn into other stories ..... a bit like the Thousand and One Arabian Nights, except it only took me four consecutive evenings to get all the way through it - partly the 3 hour viewing time, partly the multiple plots requiring concentration, and mostly because I'm rubbish at remembering names and faces. Which is not to say its dull, it isn't, more to say my brain hurts easily. According to Wikipedia, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Luis Buñuel, David Lynch, Lars von Trier, Harvey Keitel and Jerry Garcia have at various times described The Saragossa Manuscript as their favorite film. Bet their brans didn't hurt.
Dimitris S

By the Elysian Fields and Hades,the photographic proportions of this film were highly jubilant!The farcical approach helps to create a Dionysian environment and at times,a zany comprehension of non-linear events,in which the ending is unimportant...Wojciech Has prefers to entice… More
By the Elysian Fields and Hades,the photographic proportions of this film were highly jubilant!The farcical approach helps to create a Dionysian environment and at times,a zany comprehension of non-linear events,in which the ending is unimportant...Wojciech Has prefers to entice us,and sometimes lure us in the trap of hypnosis of a manuscript so enchanting,you'd think it was made for the pleasure of confusion and only...