Forgotten Love

In interwar Poland the celebrated surgeon Rafal Wilczur is abandoned by his wife. He is attacked the same night and the blow takes his memory. Years later he is living as a nameless labourer at a mill in the countryside. His hands have not forgotten: when villagers are hurt he treats them, and before long he is known as the healer. Then he meets his own daughter without recognising her. This is a classic melodrama built on recognition, with no surprises, and that is not where its strength lies. What the story argues about is what medicine is without a diploma: the man heals, and the law counts him a criminal. Michal Gazda directed. Leszek Lichota plays Rafal Wilczur and Maria Kowalska his daughter. It runs 140 minutes. The source is Tadeusz Dolega-Mostowicz's novel Znachor, and this is its third film adaptation, after 1937 and 1981. It went out on Netflix on 27 September 2023 and became an unexpected global success, staying in the top ten non-English films for the first five weeks after release. Who it is for: anyone who likes classic melodrama and adaptations from Polish literature. Who it is not for: anyone wanting restraint. The film is long, the score never stops, and the coincidences pile up.