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Sanatorium under the Sign of the Hourglass

Play trailer Poster for Sanatorium under the Sign of the Hourglass Now Playing 1h 16m Drama Animation Fantasy Play Trailer Watchlist
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87% Tomatometer 15 Reviews Popcornmeter Fewer than 50 Ratings
A ghostly train journey on a forgotten branch line transports a son, Jozef, visiting his dying Father in a remote Galician Sanatorium. Upon arrival, Jozef finds the Sanatorium entirely moribund and run by a dubious Doctor Gotard, who tells him that his father's death, the death that has struck him in his country, has not yet occurred and that here they are always late by a certain interval of time of which the length cannot be defined. Jozef will come to realize that the Sanatorium is a floating world halfway between sleep and wakefulness and that time and events cannot be measured in any tangible form.
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Critics Reviews

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Toussaint Egan RogerEbert.com The film could not have arrived at a more vital or urgent time, existing as a perhaps unintended, albeit nonetheless appreciated exemplar of the power of art conceived through the meticulous labor and deliberation of human artisanship. Rated: 4/4 Aug 29, 2025 Full Review Nicolas Rapold New York Times If you close your eyes, you might wake up inside the movie, unstuck from time yourself. Aug 28, 2025 Full Review William Repass Slant Magazine Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass becomes a film about its own condition of being an outsider to its own time, lost as it is in the aesthetics of another time that it views with a kind of nostalgic disquiet. Rated: 3/4 Aug 24, 2025 Full Review Oscar Goff Boston Hassle Even a lesser work by a pair of master artisans should be celebrated, and it speaks to the duo’s astounding career that Sanatorium might even be suggested as a “lesser work.” Sep 6, 2025 Full Review Tom Meek Cambridge Day A blend of live action and stop-motion animation, the dark gothic tale told in seven chapters has Bram Stoker trappings but is based on a Bruno Schulz story. Rated: 2.5/4 Sep 6, 2025 Full Review Siddhant Adlakha Truthdig In the Quays’ lucid cinematic dream world, nightmares are populated by dead-eyed dolls placed at the brink of their own demise, forced to confront the human condition, in all its mystery and horrific beauty. Sep 3, 2025 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Erik Simply put there is nothing else like a Quay Brothers film. A unique, claustrophobic world unfolds like the scariest part of a fairy tale. I wont pretend to understand it but I loved every second of it. Haunting score, environments, and puppets. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 09/05/25 Full Review Stephen C Success in 1 hour and 16 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dubbed and subtitled in worldwide studios!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 09/07/25 Full Review Read all reviews
Sanatorium under the Sign of the Hourglass

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Cast & Crew

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Timothy Quay

Director

Bartosz Bieniek

Director

Stephen Quay

Director

Wioletta Kopańska

Voice

Tadeusz Januszewski

Voice

Andrzej Klak

Voice

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Sanatorium under the Sign of the Hourglass

Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass (2024) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis A ghostly train journey on a forgotten branch line transports a son, Jozef, visiting his dying Father in a remote Galician Sanatorium. Upon arrival, Jozef finds the Sanatorium entirely moribund and run by a dubious Doctor Gotard, who tells him that his father's death, the death that has struck him in his country, has not yet occurred and that here they are always late by a certain interval of time of which the length cannot be defined. Jozef will come to realize that the Sanatorium is a floating world halfway between sleep and wakefulness and that time and events cannot be measured in any tangible form.
Director
Timothy Quay, Bartosz Bieniek, Stephen Quay
Producer
Lucie Conrad, Izabella Kiszka-Hoflik, Izabela Kiszka-Hofilk
Screenwriter
Stephen Quay, Timothy Quay
Distributor
KimStim
Production Co
Telewizja Polska (TVP), IKH Pictures Production
Genre
Drama, Animation, Fantasy
Original Language
Polish
Release Date (Theaters)
Aug 29, 2025, Limited
Runtime
1h 16m