Deciphering The Saragossa Manuscript

Listeners may remember our conversation earlier this year with Michael Brooke about the retrospective he had curated to mark the centenary of Wojciech Has – one of Poland’s greatest and most misunderstood directors. Well, here at Klassiki we’re taking one last opportunity to honour Has’s hundredth anniversary year: right now, until Christmas Day, subscribers can enjoy a restored version of his mind-bending masterpiece The Saragossa Manuscript. Adapted from one of the founding classics of Polish literature, and centred on the adventures of a Napoleonic officer in the haunted mountains of Spain, the film presents a surreal odyssey across time and space that nests stories within stories within stories to baffling and hypnotic effect.

We’re really excited to have the chance to present this film – and we figured that it could do with some unpacking. So, host Sam Goff invited old friend of the show, film writer and historian Ian Christie, to join him in deciphering The Saragossa Manuscript: from the source novel to the film’s daring formal tricks, its place in sixties counterculture, its long critical re-evaluation, and its profound influence on everyone from Luis Buñuel to David Lynch.

Watch The Saragossa Manuscript on Klassiki until 25 December.

Listen to our episode with Michael Brooke on the life and times of Wojciech Has here.

Read Daniel Bird’s essay on Has’s literary stylings here.

Get in touch: podcast@klassiki.online.

Listen above or head to your favourite podcast app to subscribe now. The Klassiki Podcast is available on all major podcasting platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube, Audible, and more.

Intro music by Juliet Merchant.