Sanatorium settles into the Kuyalnik resort on the edge of Odesa, a colossal ex-Soviet health complex where mud, brine and electrical therapies are still prescribed alongside walks, song and sun. Across one summer, Irish director Gar O’Rourke watches staff and the dwindling stream of guests tend bodies, manage loneliness and attempt new attachments while the war remains audible beyond the windows.

The film’s bright register comes from its taste for irony and everyday theatre – lime green corridors, appointments that turn into gossip, a karaoke room that becomes confession booth, treatments filmed with curiosity rather than judgment. Air raid alerts interrupt routines, older institutions creak, and practical precarity shadows even small victories, yet the mood resists solemnity.

O’Rourke’s debut is built from close observation and rhythmic montage, attentive to class, age and gender expectations that shape who can rest, flirt or hope. World premiering at CPH:DOX in the DOX:AWARD competition, and later named Ireland’s official submission to the 2026 Academy Awards International Feature category, the documentary offers a humane, surprising answer to how people rebuild the ordinary when history keeps knocking.