CINEMA: A Polish Joke Played on France

Love, the movies tell us, is a grand spur to acheivement. But so is hatred. Give a fellow a good grudge and a thirst for revenge, and he will find his wits sharpened, his energy focused, his ambition liberated from the timid bonds of morality. On this kind of obsession, companies have been built and countries destroyed. It's surely a strong enough motivation for one devilishly clever Polish movie: Krzysztof Kieslowski's Three Colors: White.

Karol Karol (Zbigniew Zamachowski) and Dominique (Julie Delpy) are hairdressers. She's French and gorgeous; he's Polish and not. They marry; he moves to Paris to be with...