In Forgotten Love (Znachor), years after losing his memory, a surgeon meets his daughter and gets another chance to be a father to her. The film is now streaming on Netflix.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary
Professor Rafał Wilczur is a reputed brain surgeon. He is a genius who is also very compassionate. One day, he saves the life of a poor boy, Staś, and ensures that the boy gets the treatment that he needs, even if Rafał has to pay for it.
His act of kindness does not go unnoticed. The newspapers write about him, and Rafał gets made the chief surgeon of the clinic. This makes his best friend, Professor Jerzy Dobraniecki, who wants to be the chief surgeon, bitter.
Rafał loves his wife, Beata, and their daughter, Marysia. However, Beata is in love with a forester, and she soon leaves Rafał for him. She takes Marysia with her but does not mention where they are going in the note that she leaves Rafał.
A heartbroken Rafał goes to Beata’s old house to look for her and calls Dobraniecki there. Rafał gets mugged and beaten by a few men. When Dobraniecki arrives, Rafał’s assailants run away, but instead of helping Rafał, Dobraniecki leaves him there to die.
Soon after, Rafał’s coat is found, and he is assumed dead. It is believed that Rafał killed himself because he was upset about his wife leaving him. The truth is that Rafał is alive, but he has lost his memory.
As he does not remember anything about his life, he buys fake documents from a thief and adopts the name Antoni Kosiba. He spends years wandering from place to place, searching for something that even he does not know.
Fifteen years after losing his memory, he meets Zofia, a widow who runs a mill. Rafał still has his skills, so when he sees Zofia and her aid get into a cart accident, he helps them. This leads to Zofia asking Rafał to stay with her and work at her mill.
On the other hand, Marysia is an orphan now. She dreams of going to college, so she starts working at a tavern to save money for her education. Marysia meets Count Leszek, who initially pursues her for a bet.
Marysia knows about the bet, so she does not give him the time of the day. However, Leszek does not give up and continues trying to get her attention. Eventually, the two of them fall in love.
With time, Zofia and Rafał also fall in love with each other, and Rafał tells her about his amnesia. When Marysia’s childhood friend, Michał, gets into an accident at a mill and has both his legs broken, Rafał comes to treat him.
Marysia and Rafał meet there and do not recognize each other, but Rafał keeps getting the feeling that Marysia is the person he has been looking for all these years. Marysia sends Rafał away and does not let him treat Michał because he does not have a medical license.
The doctor that Leszek brings to check on Michał fails to cure him, and it is only when Rafał operates on him with a hammer and a chisel that Michał is able to walk again. Rafał keeps treating and helping the villagers without charging them, and his popularity grows.
Marysia knows that she and Leszek belong to different worlds, so she tries to end their relationship. Leszek is ready to leave everything for her, and to show Marysia that, he serves at the tavern, even when his mother, who does not approve of his relationship with Marysia, threatens to disinherit him.
Marysia realizes that Leszek loves her and gets engaged to him. However, the same night, they get into an accident, and Marysia is badly injured. Rafał gives them first aid and sends for Leszek’s parents and a doctor, Dr. Pawlicki.
Marysia’s skull is fractured, and Dr. Pawlicki does not think that she will survive the night, so he refuses to operate on her. Leszek’s parents take Leszek to the hospital and do not bother trying to save Marysia’s life.
Before they leave, Zofia steals Dr. Pawlicki’s surgical tools. She then urges Rafał to perform the surgery. Rafał operates on Marysia with whatever means he has and saves her life. He even goes to meet Dobraniecki, who is a very famous surgeon now, and asks him to check on Marysia.
Dobraniecki recognizes Rafał but does not tell him anything about his past. Staś is also a doctor now, and he starts thinking that Rafał might be the same doctor who saved his life when he was a child.
Zofia and Rafał take care of Marysia and help her recover. Marysia tries contacting Leszek and writes letters to him but doesn’t get a response because Leszek’s mother hides those letters and tells him that Marysia is dead.
When Marysia sends the engagement ring to Leszek’s house, his father finds out what his wife has been doing to keep Leszek and Marysia apart. He calls Leszek, who is in Switzerland, and tells him the truth.
As soon as Leszek comes to know that his fiancée is alive, he decides to return home immediately, much to his mother’s dismay.
Forgotten Love ending explained in detail:
Why does Marysia leave the village?
Leszek’s mother meets Marysia when she finds out that her son is returning. She tries to pay her to stay away from Leszek, but when that does not work, she threatens to report Rafał for treating patients without a medical license and stealing Dr. Pawlicki’s tools.
Marysia realizes that Rafał risked going to prison and stole the tools for her. Marysia cares a lot about him, and after everything that Rafał has done for her, she does not want him to go to prison for helping people in need.
To save Rafał, Marysia decides to leave the village and move to Warsaw to study, which was always her plan. Leszek goes to the railway station to stop her, but he fails. Marysia leaves Rafał and the village with a heavy heart.
Does Marysia end up with Leszek?
Leszek talks to Michał, who tells him about Marysia’s real father. Michał does not know who her father is, as Marysia’s family did not talk about him, but he assumes that Marysia might have gone to look for him.
Leszek tries to find Marysia’s father. He realizes that a married woman leaving her husband for another man must have caused a scandal, so he asks his mother for help.
Surprisingly, his mother helps and tells him about the famous scandal involving Professor Rafał Wilczur. Leszek is then able to find Marysia’s mother’s old house, where he reunites with Marysia, and the couple finally gets to be together.
What happens to Rafał?
Rafał finds out about Leszek’s mother threatening Marysia, so he goes to the police station and confesses his crime. The police officer is reluctant to arrest him, as no theft has been reported and his wife has also been Rafał’s patient.
However, he has no choice but to arrest him when Rafał files an official complaint against himself and tells him that Antoni Kosiba is not his real name. Rafał pleads guilty in court, so his case goes to trial.
The case gets public attention because the story of a man who does not remember his past but can perform complicated surgeries with a hammer and a chisel is published in the newspapers. Dobraniecki and Staś also come to see the trial.
Marysia does not remember her biological father, so Leszek tells her that her father was Professor Rafał Wilczur, a pioneering brain surgeon, whose body was never found. Marysia realizes that the man she knows as Antoni could be her father.
Dobraniecki is asked to testify in court and give his opinion on whether Rafał could have been a doctor or not. Dobraniecki still does not tell the court that Antoni is his old friend, Rafał Wilczur.
However, Marysia reaches there in time and testifies. She tells the court that she is Maria Jolanta Wilczur, and the man who is being tried for practicing medicine without a license is her father Rafał Wilczur, a well-known surgeon. Staś backs her testimony, as he also recognizes Rafał.
Rafał finally remembers who he was before he lost his memory, and he reunites with his daughter. Rafał is proven innocent and goes on to marry Zofia on the day Marysia marries Leszek.