Inheritance (2024) Plot Summary
Netflix now brings us the Polish movie Inheritance aka Spadek which is a hilarious whodunnit, released in June 2024. Directed by Sylwester Jakimow, it stars Jan Peszek, Maciej Stuhr, Joanna Trzepiecinska, Mateusz Krol, Gabriela Muskala, Piotr Polak and Adam Ferency among others.
The dysfunctional Fortuna family reunite 30 years later when their millionaire of an uncle, Wladyslaw Fortuna fakes his death and wills away his patents which are worth millions to whoever wins the game. Yep, he is an eccentric game show host who creates a game in hopes of getting his family to finally get together and bond.
But chaos ensues when he is found dead, the family is trapped in a snowstorm and the cops believe one of them is the killer. But first, they need to play the game if they want to get their hands on Wladyslaw’s money.
Who kills Uncle Wlad and why?
At the beginning of Inheritance, Wladyslaw Fortuna is revealed to be a rich inventor. On the day he gathers his family, we see that he has come up with a bulletproof shirt. As a joke, he keeps stabbing himself with a knife to shock his family.
However, the next day, he is found stabbed to death in the kitchen. Once the real cops show up, Wlad’s death is ruled as an accident but they soon arrest his niece, Natalie. Turns out, the cops had their suspicions about her boyfriend, Gustaw but had no evidence. But everything aligns as Gustaw is unable to see their bluff and confesses to killing Wlad in hopes of saving Natalie.
It is revealed that Wlad ran a game show, Wheel of Truth where he misled a contestant who then tried to commit suicide after losing the game. The contestant was Gustaw’s grandmother, Katarzyna who was then taken away from him and he was put in an orphanage. To avenge his her, Gustaw got close to Natalie. But he gave up his desire to kill Wlad after falling in love with her.
While doing research for his inheritance game, Wlad learns the truth. The night everyone arrives at his home, he and Gustaw talk. Their temporary truce is broken when both end up forgiving each other and they are confused. Wlad forgives Gustaw for planning his murder while Gustaw forgives Wlad for misleading his grandmother.
But the thing is, Wlad never misled her. He also happens to have eaten a truth serum at that time which he tries to explain to Gustaw. But the boy is so enraged that he thinks Wlad is lying and stabs him. He later tells the cops that he thought Wlad was wearing his bulletproof shirt and didn’t realise that he had changed; he didn’t actually want to kill him.
What do the fake cops want?
The morning of Wlad’s death, the Butler finds a Bednarski and a Gudejko roaming the grounds and brings them in, assuming that they are the cops. No one questions it, and the two assume the role of the police and pretend to investigate Wlad’s death.
However, they have been sent by Wlad’s rivals who wanted to get their hands on his patents. Initially, the two thieves were supposed to steal it. But the circumstances work out in their favour thanks to Wlad’s death, the snowstorm preventing the real cops from showing up and the family playing a game to access the patents. They simply confiscate everyone’s phones and order them to quickly play the game.
Once nephew Dawid’s daughter, Jozie gets a call from the real cops on her hidden phone, their disguise quickly unravels. Her brother, Henryk and the Butler are taken hostage, Gudejko joins the family in the last game and the patent’s box is finally unearthed. The family and the thieves have a showdown with Henryk hoping to disarm Bednarski. It fails, but on seeing his son hurt, Dawid goes berserk and attacks. The rest join the scene and they take down the thieves. Once the real cop shows up, the two thieves are arrested.
How does Henryk discover that Gustaw is the culprit?
With the mansion having bad reception, Henryk, Jozie and Natalie hope to connect to the WiFi and call the cops. When the fake cops intercept Jozie and Natalie, Henryk sneaks away via the secret tunnels and rushes to his room. He uses Jozie’s laptop but is unable to connect since the password is “really difficult” (get it, the password is literally – “really difficult”).
While searching for clues regarding the password, he happens upon tons of copies of the same newspaper which reports the cancellation of Wlad’s game show – Wheel of Truth. It happened because he seemed to mislead a contestant who then tried to commit suicide.
The newspaper contains Katarzyna and Gustaw’s names and photos. And in the morning, before Gustaw had even seen the body, he jokingly asked if Wlad forgot to wear his bulletproof shirt before stabbing himself. Henryk shares his suspicions with the cops who then make up the scheme to get Gustaw to confess.
Does the Fortuna family ever find the patent?
The final level has the family going through a maze and finding the patent box. Once the fake cops are caught, the family opens the box only to see that it is empty. They get a final recording from Wlad who claims that the patent is somewhere safe. Since the will was supposed to be a joke and he wasn’t supposed to die the night before, he didn’t actually want to hand over his patents yet. One could call the family playing the game a trial run and a bonding session.
The Fortuna family isn’t too disheartened as they chalk it off as another eccentric thing from their wacky uncle. They do acknowledge that playing the game has gotten them closer. They go back to their lives happily including Natalie and Gustaw who get married in prison.
In the end, Henryk is seen playing with the Rubik’s Cube that Wlad had given him at the beginning of the movie. He finally solves and it clicks open to show a USB inside which most likely contains the patents worth millions.
What happens in the epilogue?
We get the final episode of Wheel of Truth with Wlad hosting it. A young Gustaw and his grandmother, Katarzyna are shown. The final question that could make or break the game is – In what city was Jesse Jackson born? Wlad even tries to help by pointing at his green tie since the answer is Greenville. But he has a ring on his finger which has Katarzyna thinking that Ringville is the answer. She, of course, loses and Gustaw is severely disappointed.
Read More: Inheritance Movie Review