THE HOURGLASS SANATORIUM

We’ve almost arrived.

How will I get there?

You’ll find the way.

You don’t need help.

I’ve come a long way.

I booked a room by telegram.

Who can I see?

Everybody is sleeping.

I’ll tell the doctor when he wakes up.

Sleeping?

It’s daytime not night.

They sleep all the time.

You didn’t know?

Night never comes here.

You can wait downstairs.

In the restaurant.

The doctor will see you now.

Where is he?

We received your telegram yesterday.

We sent our coach to the station.

You must have arrived

on a different train.

The station?

We don’t have a good train connection here.

How are you feeling?

Is my father alive?

Of course.

I mean to an extent

allowed by the situation.

You know, just as I do,

that from the perspective

of your home, your country,

you father is dead.

This cannot be fully reversed.

His death casts a shadow

on his existence here.

But he doesn’t know or suspect?

Don’t worry.

Our patients don’t suspect anything.

They can’t.

You probably want to see your father.

I’ll take you there.

We reserved a bed for you

in his room, as you requested.

The trick is that we moved back time.

Time is late here by an interval

which I can’t precisely define.

It all boils down to relativity.

Here, your father’s death

hasn’t occurred yet.

But he met with his death

in your country.

So my father is dead.

- Or is close to death.

- You don’t understand.

We reactivate past time

with all its possibilities.

Including recovery.

We let our patients sleep

for a long time.

We spare their vital energy.

They have nothing better

to do anyway.

Why don’t you lie down?

There’s nothing more

you can do now.

Goodbye.

Goodbye.

I came to talk to you.

Go on.

Why are you spreading lies

and gossip about father?

- What lies?

- I know you’re behind them.

I didn’t lie.

You remember how he went

missing for many days.

He avoided us.

Who knows whether

he’s still alive somewhere?

I have to know the truth.

Stop tormenting me.

It’s hard to communicate with him.

How can I cope

with everything myself?

How can I answer questions

which God keeps asking me?

It’s too much for me.

His complaints terrify me.

- Don’t cry.

- I have a migraine.

You won’t go to school today.

To school?

Mom, I’m not a little boy anymore.

Yes, you are.

You’ve got ink on your hands.

Your knees are bruised.

You’re a naughty, unruly boy.

You hang out

with God knows whom.

Wake those good-for-nothings.

It’s time to open the shop.

- But I’m sure...

- Stop tormenting me.

I told you that your father

travels around as a salesman.

Sometimes

he returns home at night

only to go off again before dawn.

I’m sure he’ll come back.

You’re tossing and turning

like fish out of water.

- You sleep a bit, doze off a bit...

- Yawn a bit.

And you rest again.

You should learn wisdom

from an ant, lazybones.

An ant? Go to hell.

That ant of yours knows

no teacher, boss or shegetz.

And it’s doing fine.

What’s he talking about?

I walked the fields of a lazy man.

I walked the vineyards

of a stupid man.

Where is that from?

Our Lord didn’t say that.

Don’t listen to it!

Nettles grew over everything.

Thorns covered his land.

And the stonewall

collapsed to pieces.

Clap your hands

and call out His name

while rejoicing.

Call out his name to the sounds

of songs and trumpets.

Praise Him with harps,

praise Him with lyres.

Praise Him with the drums

and dancing.

Praise Him with stringed

instruments and horns.

Praise Him with the cymbals.

Praise him

with loud clanging cymbals.

Let everything that

has breath praise the Lord.

Alleluia.

Clap your hands and sing.

Sing.

Sing wisely.

In a dream he saw a ladder

that reaches from earth to heaven.

And God’s angels

were going up and down on it.

Is it possible?

It’s our little Józef!

Did you get lost on

your way to school?

Well?

Rascals! They’re everywhere.

When I want to go down

to get bread in the morning,

I can’t even....

...open the door.

They squeeze through cracks.

And try to get into the kitchen.

They ogle me.

They can hardly wag their tails.

They’re overjoyed

when they see a fire.

They clap their hands

and dance like savages.

They’re hopeless

at putting out fire.

But they like to celebrate.

- Who are you talking about?

- Those idle firemen.

They get lazy in autumn.

They sleep while standing.

I think you’re prejudiced.

They’re nice boys.

An old stove-fitter told me

that when he repairs chimneys,

he finds them attached

to the smoke vent,

motionless like the larvae.

They sleep like that being

drunk from raspberry juice.

And they whine in their sleep:

"Sugar, sugar".

If I glance at one of them,

his face swells and becomes

obscenely red like a turkey.

I heard that it’s a way

of strengthening the inner self.

And rejuvenating colours

when firemen eject fireworks,

rockets and Bengali lights.

I won’t give them

any juice anyway.

I didn’t ruin my complexion

hovering over the stove to make it,

so those rascals could drink it.

Unfortunately, Adela,

you never understood things

which go beyond the mundane.

Look.

Is it possible to grow hair

to the ground?

You look so different.

Just wonderful!

The captain of rascals!

"I, Anna Csillag, born in Moravia,

had poor hair growth".

I wish I had hair like that.

Would you like some water?

- With raspberry juice.

- No, thanks.

Too bad.

Her poor hair growth

was divine retribution.

But prayers and penance

took the curse off her.

She was graced with enlightenment.

She received signs

and made this miraculous remedy.

Look.

These are her brothers,

cousins and brothers-in-law.

Who’s he?

Another brother-in-law.

She made a whole town happy.

Really?

"Elsa. The fluid with a swan".

It’s a balm for all afflictions.

It works wonders.

Where did you get this book?

It’s been here all the time,

scattered around.

"Smoke all you want".

"Sexual Neurasthenia".

"Gramophones".

You silly thing.

We use its pages to wrap meat

and your father’s lunch.

It’s degradation of an original book.

You’re late.

There’s no more juice.

I have some rose preserve.

It’s not bad.

Adela!

- Try it.

- Thank you.

- It’s not a preserve.

- So what? It tastes sweet.

Is your name Jakub?

No, I’m Józef.

Jakub is my father.

I see.

Can you come out?

We can’t talk like this.

- Excuse me.

- It’s all right.

I have a valuable delivery.

Where can I find your father?

I’m looking for him myself.

Allow me to introduce

Honduras and Nicaragua.

Come closer.

It’s spotted.

That’s right.

It’s perishable.

- Birds of paradise?

- Not only.

For hatching, it’s best to let

Belgian hens sit on them.

Or you can do it yourself.

I think I see your father.

Over there!

Don’t you think he’s behaving

in a strange way?

He’s demonstrating.

Father!

Father...

You should beware of things

like narrow-mindedness,

pedantry and blind literalism.

Have you noticed that

in some books flocks of swallows

are flying between the verses?

Stanzas of swallows.

You should learn to read

from the flight of these birds.

Father. I have to tell you something.

It’s a secret.

I found an original.

- An original?

- Yes.

Look.

It’s worthless!

It’s a book!

It’s just a myth.

A book is a myth

we believe in when we’re young.

We stop treating it seriously

as we get older.

Books live a borrowed life.

Every book has a moment

when it soars into the air like

a phoenix with its pages on fire!

Look.

We love them for that moment.

But they turn to ashes.

Thank you.

Why doesn’t anybody

offer goldfinch?

Where?

A book is a myth, my son.

It soars into the air

like a phoenix.

Hyderabad.

Guatemala.

Tasmania, San Domingo.

Sierra Leone.

Labrador, Barbados,

Trinidad, El Salvador,

Borneo, Sumatra, Pernambuco.

Hiporabundia.

You’re talking nonsense.

You could say Panfibras.

Haleiwa, Abracadabra.

Why do I get the feeling

that I’ve been there before?

A long time ago.

What if we know all landscapes

that we come across in life?

Can anything new happen?

Something we can’t sense?

Do you hear me?

I want to know if all this

could have happened.

Answer me.

Did it happen or not?

Yes and no.

There are some things

that can’t fully happen.

They are too grand and magnificent

to fit into an event.

They just try to happen.

Tell me if they really exist.

She did exist.

And nothing can

take away my certainty.

Don’t be afraid.

She can’t hear us.

It’s my dead mother,

she lives here.

She’s inhabited by ghosts,

phantoms, larvae and chrysalises.

Helpless and naive,

she takes them into her dream

and sleeps with them.

She wakes up half-conscious

at dawn and remembers nothing.

That’s why she’s so sad.

She has to live so many lives.

Do you know a story

that time cannot change?

There is one that

you haven’t heard.

It belongs to the night.

Will you find the patience

to listen to it?

Somebody will walk

across the sky,

cuddling a baby in a coat.

Constantly on the way,

on a endless journey.

He’ll pass us with long steps.

That’s what’s going to happen.

Over and over again.

Bianca, you can count on me!

Till the last drop of blood!

Well?

It’s a riddle.

What about her?

She’s all grey.

The touch of her hand must

be beyond imagination.

What did you see there?

Something colourful,

colonial terrifying.

Abductions, pursuits, betrayals.

It’s a story about an abducted

and switched princess.

You’re making it up.

Java.

Sumatra.

Borneo.

I can appoint you as coregent.

Anonymously.

Together with the stamp album

we’ll form a triumvirate.

We’ll be responsible

for this unsolved affair.

With the stamp album?

What a naive question.

It’s a universal book.

A compendium of knowledge

about human life containing

allusions and understatements.

This story will be interspersed

with dashes, ellipses and sighs.

It requires a bit of intelligence

and imagination.

Your words are delirious,

ridiculous, insane.

I was fond of you, Rudolf,

because you own this album.

Now your outbursts of

envy put me off.

Don’t forget that you’re

dependent on me.

I have to get to the other side.

I know.

Her father is a ship’s doctor.

A small steam boat

with wheels at the sides

is waiting for her

every night at the pier.

It’s lights are off.

Don’t go there.

I have a bad feeling.

Don’t worry. I may seem excited,

but I have my fears.

Won’t it be safer to look through

the stamp album?

You haven’t seen New Mexico.

Remember that there

is no final Mexico.

Behind every Mexico

there is a new one.

They only seem dead.

The don’t have to breathe

for a longer period.

These villains won’t be

characters in novels.

They’re just a makeshift creation,

a one-time thing.

They were caught at a moment

when their obsession,

their madness was real.

Skilfully prepared, it became

the core of their new existence.

A new man was created

in the image of a mannequin.

This is anarchist Luccheni,

assassin of Empress Elisabeth.

And this is Draga,

the demonic Queen of Serbia.

Edison and Bismarck.

"Leatherstocking".

This is a young genius,

the pride and hope of his family.

Addiction to masturbation

ruined his life.

Unfortunately, they’re not authentic.

But we put a lot of effort

into making them look good.

Their faces are pale,

flushed from

the illness they died of.

Now take a look at

Emperor Franz Joseph.

Wrinkles on his face make him

look like he’s smiling.

But when you come closer,

you see that

his smile is just a grimace

of bitterness and terseness.

He had a younger brother,

so different spiritually

and ideologically.

This unfortunate antagonist,

disadvantaged by birth,

was Archduke Maximilian.

The emperor loved him secretly,

but planned to get rid of him.

He appointed him commander

of the Levantine Ship Squadron,

hoping that he’d go under.

Later he signed a secret alliance

with Napoleon III.

That’s him.

He used deception to involve

Maximilian in the Mexican incident.

This creative young man

renounced his Habsburg title

only to ride aboard

the French liner "Le Cid"

right into a trap.

Some sources say

he was just a cousin.

Others that he was never born.

He was conjectured from the fears

and hallucinations the emperor

experienced while sleeping.

We had problems putting

him back together

after his execution in Vera Cruz.

Unfortunately,

he still suffers from amnesia.

I had to teach him everything

about his life again.

My only success is that

at the sound of the name

of Emperor Franz Joseph

he draws his sword.

He wounded Victor Emmanuel.

The latter didn’t manage to get out

of his way quickly enough.

Bianca...

and Maximilian?

It’s a simple mechanical trick.

When wound up he moves

and acts like a live person.

A simple mechanical trick,

my foot!

A cynic in the tropics.

No, a tropical cynic.

And Rudolf said I exaggerated

and made things up.

They should take their medicine

and be in bed by now.

It’s not good to keep them

on stands for so long.

I can smell curare.

Would you like to see

my collection of weapons?

So my intuition was right after all.

Under the cover of law

and order hair-rising things

are happening here.

Will you tell me who Bianca is?

Her mother was a Creole.

Archduke Maximilian called her

lovingly Conchita.

She went down in history under

that name, through the back door.

Her mother?

You mean grandmother?

Mother.

After Maximilian’s downfall,

she took her daughter to Paris.

She lived on a widow’s pension.

That’s where history loses track

of our touching character.

Allow me to finish for you.

It’s confidential!

Keep calm and control yourself.

100,000 pesos.

My business is not going well.

It’s an expensive project.

In 1900 a Mrs. de V,

a woman of exotic beauty,

leaves France and goes to Austria

with her daughter and husband,

having fake passports.

They get arrested in Salzburg,

while changing trains to Vienna.

After checking his fake passport,

Mr. de V is free to go.

But he does nothing to get

his wife and daughter released.

That very day he goes back

to France and is never seen again.

I will be the one to identify him.

150,000 pesos.

You’re so uncompromising.

What do you want?

Your decisions will show

if you’re aware of the situation.

- I want facts!

- Stop!

I think Bianca’s origin

has been confirmed.

Negroes!

Hordes of Negroes!

Negroes at this time of the year?

The barometer

must be at its lowest point.

Bianca?

I thought you’d never get here.

- Sit down.

- No, infanta.

I have to do duties

which fate has assigned to me.

I have to carry out my plan.

Did you bring anything to read?

Decrees. Sign them.

"Daisy, Daisy give me your answer".

Barrel organs everywhere!

Real marvels of technology.

They may come in handy.

Things went so far that

I got involved in the dynastic

affairs of great monarchs.

I think we’re in trouble.

Let’s think about betrayal.

- Betrayal?

- Yes.

- Betrayal?

- That’s right.

Do you have a better idea?

I don’t understand.

It must be a wonderful feeling.

To penetrate the depths

of villainy and erase oneself

from one’s own memory.

Wouldn’t you like to be defiled

or repulsive for a moment?

But totally renewed.

Do it.

You’ll become one of them.

One of those black Negroes.

Now that things are at the final

stage you want me to betray?

You’re ridiculous with your

faithfulness and sense of mission!

- What if I chose Rudolf?

- No.

I prefer him a thousand times

over you, a boring pedant.

He would be obedient.

Even when it came to crime

or self-destruction.

Rudolf obedient?

Do you remember Lonka,

the washerwoman’s daughter?

You played with her

when you were a little boy.

- Yes.

- It was me.

Only I was a boy at that time.

Did you like me then?

Bianca, I feel everything

is going the wrong way.

Must you disappoint me?

May I see your tickets, please?

Conductor...

What is going on here?

Take it easy. Don’t panic.

We’ll fix everything quietly.

We don’t need help.

Normal facts are arranged in time.

They are threaded on it...

...like onto a string.

It’s important for

narration and continuity.

Fine.

What about events

which have no place in time?

Events which

have occurred too late,

when time has been allocated?

Is time too tight

to take in all events?

Time has its side offshoots,

somewhat illegal and dubious.

But we can’t be too fussy

when dealing with events

that cannot be classified.

Who knows? Maybe all the dirty

manipulation is behind us.

We’re heading to a dead end.

Exactly.

How can I get out of here?

Why don’t you try going

under the bed again?

- Excuse me, I have to go.

- Coward!

I hope to come back again.

Coward!

Stupid coward.

It’s you.

You don’t look well.

Everything is mixed up, father.

Father?

It takes a lot of patience to find

the right words in this confusion.

You can do it by grammatical

analysis of sentences and tenses.

What? I don’t remember.

I am, he is, she is...

I’ve got it!

You are, we are!

They are...

You need to eliminate

flirtatious chatter of birds,

their pointed adverbs, prepositions,

and timid personal pronouns

to find a healthy grain of time.

Legend books,

unwritten books, great epics,

pallid and monotonous

nameless novels,

faceless giants,

dark evening stories,

cloudy dramas,

errant and lost books.

You must have a lot of work.

The light on in your room

late at night.

Try. See if you can do it.

Fascinating!

What a beauty!

Remember. Paradisea apoda

or the bird of paradise.

Cardinalis cardinalis!

Chrysolophus pictus.

Upupa epops.

I want you to take

something with you.

Anything, at least a tiny bit.

Get it into your blood,

your life and save it.

And live with it.

Come in!

Go now.

They’re looking for you.

I don’t want to be disturbed.

Go.

Go!

Go!

Look at you.

You’re covered in cobwebs.

You ripped your coat.

You’ve been in the attic again.

Shop assistants steal from us,

people buy on credit only,

and you just play around.

Take it to the shop.

Your father must be hungry.

The shop!

They’re looking for you.

It’s hot.

Who?

The shop assistants,

especially Teodor.

I know. They’ll be climbing

the ladder up and down.

Up and down.

Józef!

I wish you

had been born earlier.

Come!

Take it to them.

It’ll scare them.

Adela, Holofernes was a man.

Whatever. I kept her in borsch

to make her look better.

I’ll buy it.

Lay off. It’s not for sale.

What? The head is in a shop,

so it’s for sale.

I’ll buy it.

Father!

Take it away.

There’s no room here.

Stop bothering me.

I’m busy.

Jakub! Go on, trade!

Father!

Wake up, Józef.

I know you’re exhausted.

It’s only a few steps more.

Father, you’re ill. You should

take care of yourself.

Can you hear him?

He’s coming.

I know him since childhood.

We went to school together.

That egoist disgusted me.

He devoured lots of buttered rolls.

Go and meet him.

He’ll think I ignore him.

Go!

If I’m not mistaken it’s Józef,

Jakub’s son.

May the sky over your heads

always be blue,

and the ground under

your feet moist with dew.

I don’t think I need to say that.

You can hear their shop

is as busy as a beehive.

It’s just appearances

and pitiful mystification.

Mother complains

that people buy on credit only.

- What did he say?

- Credit.

- I must have misheard.

- I could have expected it.

- They sell on credit.

- Enough! I don’t want to hear it.

Why do you keep bowing?

Turn your ear and listen

to the words of the wise.

Apply your heart to my teaching.

I sold for cash.

Help our fellow man

as much as we can,

but be vigilant

we don’t fall ourselves.

The seven years of plenty

will come to this land.

It was Christian Seipel and Sons,

owners of weaving mills.

The rich man laboured

in gathering riches,

and when he rests he shall

be filled with his goods.

The poor man laboured

in his low way of life,

and in the end he is still poor.

Come.

She doesn’t show up

in the park anymore.

They must be guarding her.

They smelled danger.

It’s nothing but humbug!

Extraterritoriality! Mexico!

Maximilian! Cotton plantations!

Enough!

Who told you that?

The files of this secret conspiracy

were never revealed.

I’m the owner of

this stamp album.

I won’t lend it to you again

for such purposes.

I must admit that

the whole thing is incredible.

Unbelievable.

What do you think, Rudolf?

Who could have conceived

such an evil idea,

which goes beyond any fantasy?

I’m amazed myself.

Tittle-tattle!

Our partnership is over!

Suit yourself.

I said I would prove

that it was all true.

- Where is Mr. de V?

- He’s left.

We’ll see.

Where is the infanta?

Her Highness has left too.

Nobody is here.

Right. Get out.

Somebody must have

betrayed me.

Abra...

Abra?

Abracadabra.

Great.

Come on. Get up!

Haleiwa!

Vienna!

Bravo!

Mount your horses, gentlemen!

Haleiwa!

- What’s going on here?

- This way, Your Highness.

Forward!

Gentlemen,

I troubled you in vain.

These people are free to go.

Don’t harm them.

In my blindness I wanted

to preach the scripture,

to interpret God’s will.

My false belief made me

pursue obscure clues

and make random conclusions.

Allow me, my friend.

Noble gentlemen and you, infanta.

I hand the regency to Rudolf.

I abdicate!

You’re free, noble gentlemen.

Thank you in the name

of our idea.

Our dethroned idea, which...

Hurry!

Hurry!

Father!

Call Garibaldi.

He’s an expert on wounds.

Bianca.

Get a stretcher.

Hurry!

What a fatal night.

I didn’t foresee it.

He had a noble heart after all.

I have wronged him.

Rudolf, you must comfort Bianca,

love her with double love

to replace her father.

You want to take him with you?

Let’s form a procession.

Form a procession!

One more thing, Rudolf.

I should be the one

to provide for the old age

of those homeless heroes.

Unfortunately I’m a pauper.

- How much?

- Ten thousand.

- Five.

- No.

Twelve.

Gentlemen! After what happened

no wax museum will take you in.

Competition is big.

As you have no practical skills,

my friend made a donation

to purchase twelve barrel organs.

Go around the world

and play to make people happy.

You can choose the music.

Now, dear friends

and noble gentlemen,

let’s cheer together:

Long live the newlyweds!

Farewell, gentlemen.

May what you see

be a warning to you.

Don’t ever try to guess

God’s intentions.

Ignorabimus, gentlemen.

Ignorabimus.

Are you Józef, Jakub’s son?

Maybe. Yes.

Did you dream the standard

dream of biblical Joseph?

Maybe.

Well?

Do you know that your dream

was noticed at the highest level

and was severely criticized?

I’m not responsible for my dreams.

Yes, you are.

You are under arrest in the name

of His Imperial and Royal Majesty.

I’m at your disposal.

His Imperial and Royal Majesty’s

bureaucracy is a bit slow.

I have surpassed that early dream

with more serious deeds.

I wanted to do justice

and kill myself.

Now that obsolete dream

has saved my life!

- Don’t cry.

- I have a migraine.

Come. We’ll make tea.

Is Adela at home?

Adela left to America.

She left?

She went by ship and it sank.

All passengers died.

We never heard from her again.

What about father?

Where is he?

He left many times,

but it was never final.

It had its good points.

This way he prepared us

for his ultimate departure.

Take me to him.

All right.

I think it’s time for you

to see him.

The shop is closed for good.

Sometimes I go down there

to sell the remnants.

But the shutters

are only half-open.

He was one of those

whose face was touched by

the hand of God while sleeping.

They know

what they don’t know.

They become speculative

and suspicious.

Through closed eyelids

they see images of distant worlds.

For man goes to his eternal home,

while mourners go about

in the street.

Before the silver cord is broken,

and the golden bowl is crushed.

The pitcher by the well is broken,

and the wheel at

the cistern is crushed.

Then the dust will return

to the earth as it was.

And the spirit will return

to God who gave it.

I’m so glad to see you, Józef.

What a surprise.

I feel so lonely here.

Although I can’t complain.

I’ve been through worse things.

I must tell you something.

But don’t laugh.

I rented a place for a shop here.

It’s nothing much.

Back home I’d be ashamed

to have a stall like that.

But here we had to pull

in our horns.

Isn’t that right, Józef?

Life goes on.

I must have overwound it.

I see you’re sleepy.

Go back to sleep.

You have no idea

how hard it was to get a loan.

People here

don’t trust old merchants.

Merchants with past experience.

Do you remember the optician’s

shop in the market square?

Our shop is right next door.

We don’t have a sign yet.

But you’ll find it.

You’re going out without your coat?

I couldn’t find it in my trunk.

They forgot to pack it.

Take my coat.

No. See you.

Jakub! Go on, trade.

Why don’t you sit down, father?

You’re ill. You should

take care of yourself.

Stop bothering me.

I’m busy.

A letter came for you.

It’s on my desk among papers.

On my first day here

I was served

an excellent fillet of beef

with mushrooms.

It was a hell of a piece of meat.

I have to warn you.

If they ever want to

serve you fillet of beef...

Fillet of beef...

I still feel fire in my stomach.

I have diarrhea after diarrhea.

It’s really tough.

Or take, for instance,

hunter-style roast,

stuffed with pate with gravy.

Here we don’t have to deny

ourselves anything.

We can afford

to indulge big style.

An angel of a boy.

So precious.

You must admit he’s charming.

Got a light?

Even schoolgirls here wear

bows in a special manner.

If you as much as glance at them,

you get that sultry look...

which fills us with desire.

I have to see the doctor.

He’s at the restaurant.

I’ve just been there.

Sorry.

I meant the operating room.

We’re evidently in a trap.

Ever since I came here,

the sanatorium personnel

hasn’t done anything

to provide proper care.

We’re left to ourselves.

I can’t get a bed,

not to mention clean linen.

Those secrets and discreet looks

of yours are just a mystification.

I feel like opening all those

doors to expose the intrigue

we got involved in.

Get some sleep.

You can hardly keep on your feet.

Józef, Józef...

I’ve been lying in bed here,

left without any care.

The wires have been cut.

Nobody comes to see me.

Nobody can make me

a cup of tea.

My own son has

abandoned his sick father

to chase girls in town.

Józef, you should go

to our shop more often.

The shop assistants

are stealing from us.

Our shop will go to waste

if nobody takes care of it.

Look, my heart is pounding.

My strength is leaving me.

Józef, was there

any mail from home?

Doctor...

You’re not looking well.

Take your jacket off.

I’ll examine you.

Your irritation is justified.

Your body,

especially your nervous system

has to adjust to new conditions.

We were deceived by an ad.

It wasn’t a good idea

to send my father here.

Moving back time!

It sounds good.

But what is it in fact?

Do we get fully valuable

and credible time here?

No. We get time

used up by people.

It’s frayed and full of holes.

It’s vomited, secondhand time!

You may question the quality

of your father’s existence,

but you can see him

and talk to him.

You should be

very grateful to the doctor.

Enough! Space is for people.

In space you can swing around,

turn somersaults,

jump from one star to another.

But don’t tamper with time!

The blame for this lies

in fast decomposition...

Of time.

We all know that

this chaotic element can be

kept within certain bounds

if regulated continually.

If not, it begins to play

all kinds of tricks.

Isn’t that right?

You should take better

care of yourself.

Wear warmer clothes.

To start with, get some exercise.

Later we’ll see.

Chin up!

It’s lucky that father

is no longer alive.

It won’t affect him anymore.

|

百講這次為我們帶來了波蘭導(dǎo)演、新現(xiàn)實(shí)主義大師沃伊?希·哈斯改編自布魯諾·舒爾茨短片 小說的電影。兩小時(shí)的電影中，哈斯在支離破碎的沙漏時(shí)間里，編制構(gòu)建起了一場主人公約瑟夫的 夢(mèng)。從哥特式支離破碎的列?上下?，到墓碑前的凝視，我們跟著約瑟夫一起，在瑰麗的色彩和華 麗的轉(zhuǎn)場中，感受到了導(dǎo)演在時(shí)間紐結(jié)的載體下，對(duì)于戰(zhàn)爭、宗教、政治、命運(yùn)等多個(gè)議題的討 論。任何試圖用情節(jié)分析去詮釋這章華彩的時(shí)間詠嘆調(diào)的嘗試都會(huì)是徒勞，筆者在這里就電影中幾 處視聽感官上觸動(dòng)人心之處進(jìn)行探討，嘗試寫下自己的拙?和感觸。

影片的開頭和結(jié)尾很有意思，以一個(gè)窗外景物的固定鏡頭開始，變焦到環(huán)視整個(gè)陰暗的哥特 列?，影片的現(xiàn)實(shí)冷色調(diào)在此埋下了基礎(chǔ);結(jié)尾是一個(gè)下?lián)u鏡頭，導(dǎo)演讓我們把目光從療養(yǎng)院下降 到墓碑里，和開頭如出一轍的色彩象征著衰敗和死亡。整個(gè)電影在男主到達(dá)療養(yǎng)院進(jìn)入房間之后， 直到一片白光夢(mèng)醒時(shí)分，主要部分都在瑰麗的想象世界中進(jìn)行，色彩的轉(zhuǎn)移也讓我們很好地察覺電 影情緒的轉(zhuǎn)移變化。

約瑟夫的夢(mèng)，他擺弄時(shí)間的沙漏，我們是在一個(gè)個(gè)華麗的轉(zhuǎn)場中感受到的。哈斯很巧妙的借 用一些空間上分割表意的媒介，來呈現(xiàn)情節(jié)時(shí)間情景場所的變化。導(dǎo)演三次讓男主?從床鋪餐桌底 下爬出，每次爬出就回到了一個(gè)時(shí)間上全新，空間上熟知的場所。第一次是從故事開始時(shí)間點(diǎn)范疇 的家鄉(xiāng)小鎮(zhèn)，在情婦阿黛拉的家里出逃到繁榮的集市碰?父親，從而引出電影夢(mèng)境段落中最絢爛荒 誕的場景;第二次是在比安卡的床下面再一次逃離到家中，再一次對(duì)父親的尋找，引出小鎮(zhèn)上對(duì)于 宗教的討論;最后一次是從小鎮(zhèn)的圣餐桌子下面回到療養(yǎng)院，目睹蠟像復(fù)活的圣跡。每次利用狹窄 空間的轉(zhuǎn)場都象征著約瑟夫?qū)τ谄扑榈纳陈r(shí)間的全新認(rèn)知。另一個(gè)令人拍案叫絕的轉(zhuǎn)場方式是利 用水平上的視?移動(dòng)來切換空間。男主第一次就是在破窗縫隙之間窺視，看到女護(hù)士帶領(lǐng)新的家屬 來到療養(yǎng)院進(jìn)而鏡頭平推來到男主的夢(mèng)境，再次摘開遮擋已經(jīng)是母親的家中。之后的電影夢(mèng)境文本 中也多次出現(xiàn)平移視?帶來空間轉(zhuǎn)場的效果，每一次都是導(dǎo)演給觀眾心理上對(duì)于情節(jié)跳切的暗示和 準(zhǔn)備，約瑟夫既是自己時(shí)空夢(mèng)境幻想的主體也是平行鏡面的觀測者，他在擺弄時(shí)間的同時(shí)也逃不過 時(shí)間紐結(jié)的作用。

影片最出彩之處自然是關(guān)于時(shí)間和空間的探討，不論是視覺直觀的呈現(xiàn)方式還是借由男主人 公臺(tái)詞留下的哲學(xué)思考都令人印象深刻。視覺上哈斯多用?鏡頭，不同時(shí)空維度的景別設(shè)置色彩分 明，讓觀眾隨著約瑟夫一起夢(mèng)境遨游，感受時(shí)空交替。電影從引路的列?員作為開始，男主來到父 親的療養(yǎng)院尋找自我，最后夢(mèng)醒，約瑟夫從床上起身，被醫(yī)生和護(hù)士穿戴上吊燈，繼承了列?員和

父親的雙重身份。最后對(duì)于墓地的收?qǐng)鲧R頭和男主與醫(yī)生的爭辯，也是很明顯的對(duì)于沙漏時(shí)空下約 瑟夫走向死亡的情節(jié)暗示。醫(yī)生一開始暗示父親已經(jīng)死亡，但療養(yǎng)院想辦法凍結(jié)時(shí)間;在夢(mèng)境中約 瑟夫和大象?戲團(tuán)關(guān)于偉大的討論;最后對(duì)于“可以擺弄空間卻沒法操縱時(shí)間”的疾呼。都讓觀眾很 容易與約瑟夫感同身受，在視覺奇觀中敬畏感受時(shí)間，同時(shí)也超脫于電影文本反思自己對(duì)于時(shí)間紐 結(jié)的把握。

當(dāng)然，影片中隨處可?的政治宗教議題以及多處隱喻也是頗為精彩。筆者對(duì)于波蘭的政治及 宗教歷史不甚了解，但哈斯用?類、?物、蠟像等多處隱喻，既達(dá)成了電影場景意項(xiàng)的構(gòu)建，也完 成了對(duì)于戰(zhàn)爭歷史的指向討論。整個(gè)電影就很容易讓觀眾置身于二戰(zhàn)前后的波蘭去理解歷史的輪 回，而其中兩次在蠟像處約瑟夫的停留是最為直白明顯的典范。首先，蠟像對(duì)于人物形象的凍結(jié)和 療養(yǎng)院對(duì)于時(shí)間沙漏的把玩不謀而合，蠟像超越簡單的機(jī)械原理開始運(yùn)動(dòng)，也構(gòu)成約瑟夫夢(mèng)境中對(duì) 于時(shí)間操作的一個(gè)互文。其次，蠟像歷史人物的設(shè)置也讓電影故事放置介于戰(zhàn)爭歷史背景之中。最 后，蠟像的運(yùn)動(dòng)，形成視覺奇觀，和?類的靜止構(gòu)成了令人嘆為觀止的對(duì)比。

最后，影片充盈的想象力，對(duì)于后世影史作品的影響也是顯而易?的。第一次出現(xiàn)于小鎮(zhèn)上 的工人歌舞表演，炫目的詠嘆旋轉(zhuǎn)鏡頭，在匈牙利詩意電影導(dǎo)演?拉塔爾的電影中可以多次找到對(duì) 應(yīng)，如《鯨??戲團(tuán)》;對(duì)于奇觀的塑造，恰到好處的環(huán)境背景音和色彩拿捏似乎在科波拉的《現(xiàn) 代啟示錄》中得到了傳承;對(duì)于夢(mèng)境的現(xiàn)實(shí)的交織、荒誕的宗教隱喻、特別是樓梯上房間里的裸女 情色暗示，又很難讓人不想到南斯拉夫?qū)а輲焖箞D里卡的史詩巨作《地下》等等。哈斯將奇觀的完 美展現(xiàn)和政治哲學(xué)的探討隱喻融為一體，讓觀眾徹底沉浸于他編織出的奇幻世界。

#本影評(píng)修訂版發(fā)布于北京大學(xué)百周年講堂官網(wǎng)以及公眾號(hào)#

沒有看過小說原著，也沒有了解過導(dǎo)演風(fēng)格以及創(chuàng)作背景，僅僅被它瑰麗的畫面吸引過來，簡單記錄一下粗糙的感覺。

第一感受是灰塵味和發(fā)霉的甜膩氣息。

一定是那種長久無人問津的城堡才特有的灰塵味兒和樹上唯一一個(gè)快要腐爛掉的蘋果所散發(fā)出來的甜膩氣息?；覔鋼溆謸u晃晃的開場，是疲憊旅程的引子。一進(jìn)入療養(yǎng)院，鼻子口腔都被迫吸入了灰塵 ，接著主人公的四處闖入游走，一直被那種不適的發(fā)霉的甜膩氣息包裹，直到故事結(jié)束。父親離去，而唯一一顆蘋果掉落。

其次是思緒被切碎，邏輯遭遇阻礙，遠(yuǎn)在個(gè)人體驗(yàn)之外的奇特感覺。

邏輯經(jīng)驗(yàn)無法在這里得到任何有效回應(yīng)，這是夢(mèng)里也不曾有過的場面。門和床底是觸發(fā)思緒游走的開關(guān)，或者是把眼睛閉上在重新睜開，非常意識(shí)流的表達(dá)。療養(yǎng)院是大型的時(shí)間沙漏，約瑟夫在自己的時(shí)間里隨意游走，到處都是蜘蛛網(wǎng)和厚厚的灰塵，這些部分也許是他平日里極少觸碰的記憶，封閉在某個(gè)角落，很久遠(yuǎn)也很少打開。這些記憶思緒圖像是我完全沒整明白的地方，但以倒推的方式往回看，沒有誰能真正把握自己。無邏輯的表達(dá)，錯(cuò)亂的圖像，詩話的語言在意識(shí)里是非常合理的。通過無法被完美整合的表面，可能會(huì)更接近真相或者是真實(shí)。這份真相對(duì)于觀眾我而言是無意義的，或者我并不在意，但對(duì)我們每個(gè)人而言，那些看起來無邏輯又混亂卻不斷在沙漏里重新?lián)炱饋淼乃查g都暗藏著每個(gè)人的內(nèi)心。

第三感受是來自于父親，也或許除了約瑟夫，印象最深刻的人是父親，我的感觀體驗(yàn)，灰塵味兒，發(fā)霉的腐爛，很大程度都是瀕死的父親賦予，約瑟夫的時(shí)間里，父親在各個(gè)場合都顯得從容睿智，被眾人圍繞，唯獨(dú)最后的獨(dú)白，他訴說了隱秘的孤獨(dú)。

暫時(shí)就這樣吧，有時(shí)間看看原著。

五光十色，怪異詭譎的夢(mèng)境！

將現(xiàn)實(shí)、幻覺、夢(mèng)境、回憶雜糅于一體，通過詭異的蒙太奇手法轉(zhuǎn)場，讓人摸不著頭腦。

好吧，說實(shí)話，我沒看懂........

我連看了三遍，同時(shí)將《沙漏做招牌的療養(yǎng)院》看了大半本，才模糊地理解了導(dǎo)演想表達(dá)的情感。

時(shí)間啊……

父親母親啊……

戰(zhàn)爭啊……

書籍啊……

一切似乎都失去了意義，留下的只有麻木的我們。