Critic's Grade: A

"White," the second film in Krzysztof Kieslowski's "Three Colors" trilogy, has been called a story of obsession and revenge; I look at it as one of a whimp. I'm sure it must take some degree of courage to give up one's entire life's work just for a chance at revenge against someone who wronged you, but the fact that one would come so far, and yet still be unable to overcome certain feelings for a person who does not mirror these emotions, suggests a slight aire of cowardice, also signified by the color that is the film's title.

The film opens with the divorce of Polish Karol Karol (Zbigniew Zamachowski) at the behest of his French wife, Dominique (Julie Delpy), who wants out of the marriage because her husband is unable to perform sexually (and I thought American divorces were harsh!). Karol seems incapable of understanding why she wants to call it quits: even when he finds that his bank account has been frozen by her, leaving him with nothing but the suitcase in his hand, he still wishes for a second chance with her. Once she makes it clear that she wants nothing more to do with him, he later ventures back to Poland with the help of a new acquaintance, a wealthy man named Mikolaj (Janusz Gajos).

Once in his home country, Karol's personality does a complete one-eighty: he begins taking chances by working for a group of gangsters, whom he later double-crosses by buying up a valuable piece of land before he can, and selling it to him at a much higher price. Mikolaj also offers him a large sum of money for an attempted murder that goes unfinished; the two use it to create a business together, and it's smooth sailing from then on. But Karol, who still hasn't forgotten his love for Dominique, has not relinquished the rejection and degradation brought about by their separation, and thus is driven to formulate a plan of revenge in which he will appear to be dead and she will be left as the sole culprit, but not before believing that she has been left his entire fortune.

One can easily consider Karol's actions from two different perspectives: in one camp, he's acting out of a deep obsession for Dominique that has left him bruised and disheveled, but never unaware of his unconditional love for her. He's the type of husband (or ex-husband) that every domineering woman dreams about, a sucker for love that's willing to overlook the obviously tyrannical aspects of his relationship with Dominique. Later, when he becomes the oppressor, there is another matter to consider: why doesn't he just get over her? He has everything he could possibly want in life: wealth, power, prestige, and solid ground on which to stand for the rest of his life, and yet he still cannot let go of the past. As these two rivaling undercurrents go head-to-head throughout the film, they inspire a great deal of refreshing thought that brings a new meaning and perspective to the film as a whole.

Once again, Kieslowski's film relies heavily on a strong central performance to bring us into Karol's psyche, and Zamachowski is just right for this part. His mannerisms and body language are perfect in their relation of the various emotional stages that Karol undergoes throughout the film, and his methods of bringing the character's hidden psychoses are brilliantly subtle and very effective. His character is very much a reversal of that of Juliette Binoche's Julie from "Blue" in that his camaraderie with various characters leads to an isolation that is brought about by his obsession. But their loneliness is uniform in its effect: just as Julie was somewhat incapable of being without the company of memories, friends, and lovers, we get a sense of the same circumstance in Karol, who may or may not in the final shot realize the emotional consequences of his actions.

The film is far less dense than Kieslowski's previous work, "Blue," with a lack of color symbolism that ran rampant before, and more attention to outside characters. But the director still excels in bringing the film to life with elements of drama, suspense, and even some humor, all the while establishing a connectivity between this film and "Blue" with several references and allusions to certain moments in that previous work (be sure to catch the early courtroom scene, in which one can see Binoche's entrance and dismissal by a guard). His attention to character is vital to the success of the film on an emotional level, and he achieves this once again by not resorting to sensational tactics, but rather a slow, meandering pace that digs deep into those we come into contact with. In the end, I came to understand that "White" is more about character development, without the symbolism as an explanation. If "Blue" was the study guide, then this film is the pop quiz.

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