

A Polish alchemist turns lead to gold — and your sanity into lead.
Cinematography
Shadow-drenched Eastern European aesthetic that haunts your dreams.
Acting
Jerzy Nowak's prince — pathetic, terrifying, utterly magnetic.
Direction
Koprowicz builds dread through silence and candlelight like a patient torturer.
Director
Jacek Koprowicz
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Made during the final years of Communist Poland, the film's alchemical greed reads as pointed political allegory.
Director Koprowicz spent years researching actual 17th-century alchemy texts; the rituals shown are disturbingly authentic.