Forgotten Love

In Michal Gazda’s moving Polish drama the past catches up with a lonely doctor suffering from memory loss.

The origins of Forgotten Love go back to a novel by the celebrated Polish author Tadeusz Dolega-Mostowicz. The Polish title is Znachor, which translates as The Quack. The book was published in 1937 and there have been two previous film versions, in 1937 and 1981. It is a classic tale of a man wronged by society through no fault of his own and has been likened to Les Misérables. It may not be on such an epic scale as the Hugo masterpiece, but it is certainly a remarkable, honest, sympathetic work proffering a universal truth that demands attention. The author of the book was a prodigious writer of novels, short stories and journalism. Several of his sixteen books were turned into films and he packed a lot into, sadly, a short life. Born in 1898 in what is now Belarus, he was killed during the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939, aged just 41. If he had left only one of his novels as a legacy for Polish literature, Znachor would fit the bill very well.

It tells of a brain surgeon, Professor Rafal Wilczur, who appears to have a successful career and a happy home life until his wife leaves him for another man, taking their daughter Marysia with her. In his search for his lost family, he is set upon by thugs and is left for dead. However, he does recover but having suffered a head injury, has completely lost his memory. Not knowing who he is and presumed dead by his colleagues, Rafal turns up somewhere in the country and takes on a menial job at a flour mill. Gradually the lost memories resurface in his mind and he finds he still has the ability to cure people. Through trial and and error and without proper surgical instruments he manages to get a man walking again after a serious accident. Rafal has assumed the false name of Antoni Kosiba, a dead thief, but because he doesn't know who he is, when he begins practising as a doctor without a licence, he is put on trial as a quack.

Forgotten Love is a very moving story that hits hard at the heart of the fact that without an identity a person is nobody, however skilled they may seem to be. The story also deals with antisemitism, the very rich versus the very poor, the conventions of a polite society that looks down on the working or servant class, and when it comes to marriage, it is better to wed for money than love. Set in the 1930s, it is filmed very naturalistically by Michal Gazda whose direction is well-paced as the drama slowly unfolds with a huge cast of both leading players and extras, as Rafal continues the search for his wife and daughter. The settings are impressive with wonderful rural locations beautifully captured by the camera work of Tomasz Augustynek. The production designs by Joanna Macha and the costumes by Malgorzata Zacharska are elegance personified, while the whole film is enhanced by the attractive musical score of composer Pawel Lucewicz.

The performance by Leszek Lichota as Rafal will have you both spellbound and in tears. Although the rest of the cast are equally good, to spell out any more about their characters and what happens to them might release too many spoilers. Forgotten Love has already proved to be a hit on Netflix, so it may well become the sleeper of the year.

Original title: Znachor.

MICHAEL DARVELL

Cast Leszek Lichota, Maria Kowalska, Ignacy Liss, Anna Szmanczyk, Izabela Kuna, Mikolaj Grabowski, Miroslav Haniszewski, Jaroslaw Gruda, Malgorzata MikoLajczak.

Dir Michal Gazda, Pro Magdalena Szwedkowicz, Screenplay Marcin Baczyński and Mariusz Kuczewski, based on a novel by Tadeusz Dolega-Mostowicz, Ph Tomasz Augustynek, Pro Des Joanna Macha, Ed Piotr Kmiecik, Music Pawel Lucewicz, Costumes Malgorzata  Zacharska.

MS Productions/Endemol Polska-Netflix.
140 mins. Poland. 2023. UK and US Rel: 27 September 2023. Cert. 12.