Overview
A journey through dreams and healing unfolds in a mysterious clinic.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Glacial
- Intensity
- Moderate
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- None
- hypnotic
- dreamy
- tender
- quiet evening
- contemplative viewing
What critics said
Critics broadly regard the film as a gracefully elusive, gently hypnotic, and formally accomplished work of spiritual and political ambiguity.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The sleeping soldiers, psychic communication, dreams, ancient myth, and clinic routines coexist without firm boundaries between literal and fantastical explanation.
Long periods of watching, sleeping, healing, and waiting shape the film’s gently hypnotic rhythm rather than conventional plot momentum.
The former school, the soldiers’ troubled dreams, Itt’s cryptic notebook, and the mythic site beneath the clinic connect present illness with suppressed histories.
Colored light therapy, luminous interiors, sleeping bodies, and drifting transitions turn the clinic into a space where medical treatment and dream imagery overlap.
Films like Cemetery of Splendor, and why
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
patient dreamlike pacing, porous boundaries between ordinary life and the supernatural, and contemplative political undercurrents
The Spirit of the Beehive
mystical realism, meditative observation, spiritual ambiguity, and intimate encounters with unseen worlds
The Turin Horse
slow cinema atmosphere, enigmatic illness, hypnotic imagery, and unresolved relationships between memory and reality
The Double Life of Véronique
dream logic, spiritual mystery, tender romantic feeling, and a visually restrained arthouse sensibility
Movie Details
- Director
- Apichatpong Weerasethakul
- Release Date
- 2015-09-02
- Runtime
- 122 min
- Rating
- 6.0 / 10 (182)
Cast
- Jenjira Pongpas
- Banlop Lomnoi
- Jarinpattra Rueangram
- Petcharat Chaiburi
- Tawatchai Buawat
- Sujittraporn Wongsrikeaw
- Bhattaratorn Senkraigul
- Sakda Kaewbuadee
- Pongsadhorn Lertsukon
- Sasipim Piwansenee
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- MUBI, MUBI Amazon Channel, Strand Releasing Amazon Channel
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Cemetery of Splendor about?
- A tenderly enigmatic Thai reverie where a volunteer tending sleeping soldiers enters a world of psychic contact, buried myths, and unstable dreams.
- What is Cemetery of Splendor like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Cemetery of Splendor as glacial, its intensity as moderate and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Cemetery of Splendor violent?
- No — Ember's analysis finds no violence in Cemetery of Splendor.
- What did critics think of Cemetery of Splendor?
- Critics broadly regard the film as a gracefully elusive, gently hypnotic, and formally accomplished work of spiritual and political ambiguity.
- Which films are like Cemetery of Splendor?
- Films with a similar feel include Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, The Spirit of the Beehive, The Turin Horse, and The Double Life of Véronique.
- How long is Cemetery of Splendor?
- Cemetery of Splendor runs 122 minutes.
- Where can I watch Cemetery of Splendor?
- In United States, Cemetery of Splendor streams on MUBI, MUBI Amazon Channel, Strand Releasing Amazon Channel.
