Heaven is so determined to be poetic and beautiful, it comes across as forced and didactic, a lesson in relative morality whose storyline doesn't so much flow as lurch from one stretch to another.

Cate Blanchett, never lovelier or more vulnerable, is Philippa, an English woman living in Italy whose husband has recently died, indirectly the victim of a politically connected drug dealer the police refuse to touch. Frustrated that her continued pleas for them to do something are ignored - she's also a schoolteacher, and has seen the effect the man's drugs have on her pupils, compounding her resolve to bring him to justice - she takes matters into her own hands by planting a bomb in his office.

But when the bomb goes off, it's not the dealer who's killed, but four innocent people: a cleaning lady, a father and his two children. Philippa's quickly fingered for the crime and questioned, but the police don't buy her explanation. They're sure she's a terrorist of some sort, and want to know who she's working for.

Shattered by the realization of what she's done, Philippa breaks down (Blanchett's reaction alone is almost worth the price of admission). The police think she's acting - except for the meek translator, Filippo (Giovanni Ribisi), who sees something in her that not only makes him believe she's no terrorist, but fall in love with her.

Filippo helps Philippa escape (the similar-sounding names are meant to reinforce the notion that these people are linked in ways only fate could decree, but they only add to the sense that this movie is trying way too hard). Can they make it on their own? Is their love real, or just adrenaline? And what of their tormented souls?

Heaven has a nice sense of moral ambiguity about it, and I wish the script by the late Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski had stopped there. But it keeps forcing itself into places it needn't be, usually by having people do things that don't ring true to their characters. That's especially true of Philippa; if she's so emotionally devastated by her actions, so determined to suffer the just consequences (as she says repeatedly), why does she try to escape in the first place? And the ending, meant to be symbolically ambiguous, is just plain silly.

Ribisi struggles too hard to keep the same blank expression on his face. His performance never seems to get its bearings. But Blanchett is a joy to watch; by force of skill alone, she holds the movie together; it's impossible to free your eyes or mind from the screen when she's on it.

Director Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run) brings a visual verve to the proceedings, but he's ultimately defeated by the story's stubborn refusal to follow where it seems to be leading. Ambiguous doesn't mean inexplicable, no matter how hard Heaven tries to insist it does.

Heaven

Starring Cate Blanchett, Giovanni Ribisi

Directed by Tom Tykwer

Released by Miramax

Rated R (Language, sexuality)

Time 96 minutes

Sun Score: **1/2