![]() ![]() The imagery is extraordinary – the bleakness of the mountains, the ox skeleton erected by the side of the road as a warning to travellers, the withered, semi-mummified bodies of the hanged men. Throughout the first half in particular what binds everything together is a keen sense of the temptations of the flesh and the devil and the absurd weakness of the human will when cofronted by them. Along the way there are tales within tales and learned dialogue … at one point it even becomes like a Thomas Love Peacock novel of ideas as various notions of the infinite are discussed in a mixed company of gypsies and nobles in a castle decorated with kabbalistic symbols. In dizzying succession, he finds himself harassed by the spirits of two hanged men, waylaid by a pair of seductive Moorish princesses in a mysterious cavern and thrown off course by encounters with bandits, philosophers and the Spanish Inquisition. ![]() There are framing devices within framing devices, but the film largely centres around the attempts of Alfonse van Worden (Zbigniew Cybulski), a dandyish, easily distracted officer, to cross a mountain range that has a reputation for being haunted. Think Baron Munchausen meets Tristram Shandy and you’ll have some idea what’s in store in this crazily inspired three-hour compendium of ghost stories and shaggy dog tales, based on a classic of Polish literature by Jan Potocki. Starring: Zbigniew Cybulski, Iga Cembrynska ![]()
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