Magic mountains: 30 epiphanies in a sanatorium
The only religious way to think of death is as part and parcel of life; to regard it, with the understanding and the emotions, as the the inviolable condition of life
Thomas Mann - The Magic Mountain
Thomas Mann - The Magic Mountain
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30 titles
- DirectorHans W. GeissendörferStarsWerner EichhornRod SteigerMarie-France PisierHans Castorp, fresh from university and about to become a civil engineer, comes to the Sanatorium Berghof in the Swiss Alps to visit his cousin Joachim, an army officer, who is recovering there from tuberculosis. Intending to remain at the Berghof for three weeks, Hans is gradually contaminated by the morbid atmosphere pervading the place. Wishing very much to be considered a patient like the others, he achieves his ends and stays in the sanatorium for ...seven years. During this time, he has enough time to take part in the furious philosophical debates pitting against each other Settembrini, a secular humanist, and Naphta, a totalitarian Jesuit. And to fall in love with the beautiful but enigmatic Clawdia Chauchat. When he is finally discharged in 1914 - along with all the other patients - it is only to plunge into the horrors of World War I.
- DirectorYves AngeloStarsFabrice LuchiniAndré DussollierMarie GillainSet in Europe during WWI, a doctor and lawyer have converted a musty old mansion into a ritzy hotel and health spa. The chateau is inhabited by an eccentric collection of characters from whom the proprietors go to great lengths to hide the endless parade of dying men coming back from battle. Despite the owner's efforts, people in the hotel begin to die mysteriously as events become a surreal meditation on death, disease, and hypocracy.
- DirectorPaolo SorrentinoStarsMichael CaineHarvey KeitelRachel WeiszA retired orchestra conductor is on vacation with his daughter and his film director best friend in the Alps when he receives an invitation from Queen Elizabeth II to perform for Prince Philip's birthday.
- DirectorAlan ParkerStarsAnthony HopkinsBridget FondaMatthew BroderickA story about the ins and outs of one unusual health facility in the early twentieth century, run by the eccentric Dr. John Harvey Kellogg.
- DirectorRobert SiodmakStarsAlfred AbelHilde WagenerHans Joachim SchaufußA boy and his mother stay in a hotel near a lake where they meet a fascinating man.
- DirectorAndrew BirkinStarsDavid EbertsFaye DunawayKlaus Maria BrandauerWhile being treated for asthma at a country spa, an American diplomat's lonely 12-year-old son is befriended and infatuated by a suave, mysterious baron. During a story of his war experiences, the baron reveals the scar of a wound from an American soldier and thrusts a pin through it, saying "see-- no feeling." Little does the boy realize that it is his turn to be wounded. But soon his adored friend heartlessly brushes him aside and turns his seductive attentions to his mother. The boy's jealousy and feelings of betrayal become uncontrollable.
- DirectorIvan NichevStarsIvailo TsvetkovTanya DimitrovaWalter ToschiEdgar M. and his mother come abroad a small ship to Eden Sanatorium spa. It is here that the wife, wronged by her husband, will seek a cure for her bad headache, while the 13-year-old Edgar M. is fighting his first male impulses as well as 'enoresis nocturna', the prettier word for wetting one's bed. The boy's amazed gaze hungrily devours the diverse hotel guests, their love joys and sorrows, while passion lustfully penetrates the walls, carried by the voice of the enchanting opera singer.
- DirectorLouis MalleStarsLea MassariBenoît FerreuxDaniel GélinAs France is nearing the end of the first Indochina War, an open-minded teenage boy finds himself torn between a rebellious urge to discover love, and the ever-present, almost dominating affection of his beloved mother.
- DirectorHayao MiyazakiStarsHideaki AnnoHidetoshi NishijimaMiori TakimotoJiro Horikoshi studies assiduously to fulfill his aim of becoming an aeronautical engineer. As WWII begins, fighter aircraft designed by him end up getting used by the Japanese Empire against its foes.
- DirectorNicole GarciaStarsMarion CotillardLouis GarrelAlex BrendemühlIn 1950s France, Gabrielle is a passionate, free-spirited woman who is in a loveless marriage and falls for another man when she is sent away to the Alps to treat her kidney stones. Gabrielle yearns to free herself and run away with André.
- DirectorNikita MikhalkovStarsMarcello MastroianniSilvana ManganoMarthe KellerAn Italian tells his story of love to a Russian. In a series of flashbacks, Romano Patroni leaves his wife to visit a spa where he falls in love with a Russian woman. He returns to Italy resolved to leave his wife and marry his love.
- DirectorRadu JudeStarsSerban PavluAlex BogdanGabriel SpahiuEmanuel spends his days at a sanatorium. Falling in love with another patient, he narrates his and his fellow patients' attempts to live life to the fullest as their bodies slowly fade away, but their minds refuse to give up.
- DirectorFernando TruebaStarsJorge SanzMaribel VerdúVerónica ForquéPolitical and religious prejudices are destroying the relationship between two teenagers in wartime Spain.
- DirectorBenoit PilonStarsNatar UngalaaqÉveline GélinasPaul-André BrasseurIn 1952, an Inuit hunter named Tivii with tuberculosis leaves his northern home and family to go recuperate at a sanatorium in Quebec City. Uprooted, far from his loved ones, unable to speak French and faced with a completely alien world, he becomes despondent. When he refuses to eat and expresses a wish to die, his nurse, Carole, comes to the realization that Tivii's illness is not the most serious threat to his well-being. She arranges to have a young orphan, Kaki, transferred to the institution. The boy is also sick, but has experience with both worlds and speaks both languages. By sharing his culture with Kaki and opening it up to others, Tivii rediscovers his pride and energy. Ultimately he also rediscovers hope through a plan to adopt Kaki, bring him home and make him part of his family.
- DirectorVittorio De SicaStarsFlorinda BolkanRenato SalvatoriDaniel QuenaudClara, diagnosed with tuberculosis, is treated in a sanatorium in the Alps where she can finally take a break from her miserable life.
- DirectorAgustí VillarongaStarsRoger CasamajorBruno BergonziniAntònia TorrensTwo young men and a woman who shared the same traumatic childhood experience during the Spanish Civil War are reunited years later at a hospital for tuberculosis treatment.
- DirectorJos StellingStarsSylvia HoeksRenata LitvinovaDieter HallervordenThe Girl and Death tells us the impossible love story of Nicolai and the courtesan Elise. A love obstructed by materialism, wealth and death threat.
- DirectorJoseph SargentStarsKenneth BranaghCynthia NixonDavid PaymerThe stirring true story of Franklin D. Roosevelt's battle with polio in 1921.
- DirectorYanfu YuYuan ZhangStarsLing LiXiaoying SongEnhe FengSet in early 1980s, Xishan tuberculosis hospital. Three female patients lives in ward 16. A new one moves in and makes others thinking about their lives.
- DirectorJaromil JiresStarsMartin DejdarJana HlavácováMilos KopeckýA story about love, dancing and survival, set in the late 40s. Jan Mayer, a young dance-master, arrives in a sanatorium for lung diseases with a serious diagnosis - tuberculosis. But he does not give in to his illness and starts fighting it actively with his optimism and his dancing. Gradually he wins over other patients, who had been accepting their fate passively under strict institutional discipline. But his sickness soon breaks out in full its force.
- DirectorMichael AptedStarsDustin HoffmanVanessa RedgraveTimothy DaltonIn December 1926, Agatha Christie's husband asks for a divorce. She leaves her car and goes missing for 11 days. She books into a hotel as Mrs. Neele. A US reporter looks for her and investigates.
- DirectorAndré De TothStarsBarbara StanwyckDavid NivenRichard ConteKaren Duncan, a seriously ill concert pianist, enters a Swiss sanatorium where she's attracted to Dr. Tony Stanton. Ignoring his warnings about resting, she leaves for Monte Carlo with Paul Clermont despite possibly fatal consequences.
- DirectorHiroshi ShimizuStarsKinuyo TanakaHiroko KawasakiTatsuo SaitôAt a rural spa, a soldier accidentally cuts his foot on a hairpin. Soon enough he tracks down its lovely owner and finds himself smitten.
- DirectorIzabella CywinskaStarsKarolina GruszkaLukasz SimlatKrzysztof ZawadzkiAn unlikely love triangle between a beautiful country teacher, an ailing sanatorium patient and his close friend takes place somewhere far away by a lovely lake.
- DirectorTerence GrossStarsToni ColletteDaniel CraigKatrin CartlidgeA chef (Toni Collette) seeks reconciliation with her brother (Daniel Craig) by helping him run a decaying resort and health spa.
- DirectorYorgos LanthimosStarsColin FarrellRachel WeiszJessica BardenIn a dystopian near future, according to the laws of The City, single people are taken to The Hotel, where they are obliged to find a romantic partner in 45 days or they're transformed into beasts and sent off into The Woods.
- DirectorRobert AltmanStarsShelley DuvallSissy SpacekJanice RuleTwo roommates/physical therapists, one a vain woman and the other an awkward teenager, share an increasingly bizarre relationship.
- DirectorGore VerbinskiStarsDane DeHaanJason IsaacsMia GothAn ambitious young executive is sent to retrieve his company's CEO from an idyllic but mysterious "wellness center" at a remote location in the Swiss Alps, but soon suspects that the spa's treatments are not what they seem.
- DirectorGerald ThomasStarsJuliet MillsDonald SindenDonald HoustonA group of patients resides in a sanatorium and aspire to walk twice round the daffodils, which they can do when they are better.
- DirectorDanielle JaeggiIn this health resort immortalized by Thomas Mann in the Magic Mountain, socialists, Nazi leaders crossed paths in the 1930s and 1940s