Illumination

Franek is accepted into the physics program at college and begins his studies. On campus he meets a fellow student who becomes his partner, and their relationship soon blossoms into romance. This formative period sets the stage for both his scientific ambitions and personal trials.

At a party Franek experiments with cannabis, an event that unsettles him and foreshadows the fragility of his early relationship. He later returns to his girlfriend's apartment to find her being assaulted by another man. He intervenes, is beaten, and she rebuffs him, breaking up and throwing him onto the street.

Franek joins other students during a mountain lodge vacation and plans a climb to the peak. He experiences death indirectly when a friend dies during the ascent, an event that haunts him. Later, he visits the corpse at night, studying it with a burning match.

At the lodge, Franek meets Małgosia, falls in love, and they decide to elope. Their relationship deepens against the backdrop of his fledgling career and existential questions. The elopement marks a turning point toward family life.

After a discussion with a professor about his future, Franek realizes that his academic path must accelerate if he wants to be notable. The film juxtaposes images of young Einstein and Planck achieving positions early in their careers. This moment crystallizes his resolve to push forward academically.

Franek serves mandatory military service, but Małgosia comes to him with life-changing news: she is pregnant. He immediately marries her and embraces fatherhood, a decision that reshapes his personal and professional priorities. The pregnancy anchors the need for stability in his life.

Financial pressures push Franek to leave college and seek employment in a hospital. He begins by evaluating medical equipment and participates in sleep studies to earn extra money, eventually becoming a full-time hospital orderly. This work exposes him to clinical realities and new moral questions.

While working in the hospital's sleep studies, Franek dreams of being trapped in a courtyard while strangers watch from windows. He becomes involved in brain surgeries and studies related to schizophrenia, including electrode stimulation, and befriends a mathematician patient whose tumor provokes epileptic fits. The experiences blend science with personal fear.

After the tumor is surgically removed, the mathematician dies and Franek confronts a detached autopsy culture. He grows disgusted by the lack of empathy toward his friend's brain and ultimately steals and destroys the organ. This act marks a moral crisis in his scientific journey.

Seeking existential answers after the rapid pace of death and science, Franek goes to a monastery. He has a dream sequence of a monk dying and later views a montage of rotting corpses in catacombs. The visit represents his attempt to reconcile mortality with knowledge.

Franek returns to college, earns his doctorate, and begins working as a researcher and lecturer. Time passes rapidly as he rises through academic ranks while continuing to grapple with philosophical questions. His career milestones underscore a late but meaningful shift to scholarship.

Along with other intellectuals, he hears news of the 1968 Polish political crisis on the radio. He has published his first paper and is celebrated within his field, but soon he collapses while playing with his son. Doctors warn that his heart has age-related issues and may not recover.

Disturbed by the realization that he has passed the prime of his life, he spends a quiet moment by the riverside with his wife and son. He watches driftwood float downstream as a solemn meditation on mortality, having seen his mind and body weather the years. The final image ties his intellectual journey to a personal, emotional resolution.