Accidents and Accountability - The New York Times One miscalculation leads to another in "Three Worlds," Catherine Corsini's severe, anxiety-producing French drama about the chain of consequences after a hit-and-run accident. The 16th feature by Ms. Corsini, the film is a rigorous moral inquiry that puts its characters - but especially its ambitious young protagonist, Al (Raphaël Personnaz) - through the wringer. In its unsparing exploration of guilt and atonement, "Three Worlds" is a distant descendant of "A Place in the Sun," which told a similar story about a social climber whose life unravels at his moment of triumph. "Three Worlds" is more complex but less affecting because the story proceeds with mathematical calculation, and humor and romance are in short supply. Although Mr. Personnaz is a fine actor, he lacks the tragic vulnerability of Montgomery Clift in that George Stevens classic adapted from Theodore Dreiser. "Three Worlds" is less about upward mobility than about accountability. It observes the lengths its characters go to do the right thing, and it registers the unexpected blowback when their good intentions are misconstrued or perceived as inadequate. It begins on the night of Al's bachelor party. In 10 days he is to marry the daughter of his boss, who owns a car dealership in which he has been made a partner. During a drunken joy ride with two roughneck childhood friends in a company car, he strikes a pedestrian. After a moment's hesitation, they decide not to stop or to report the accident. As they flee, Juliette (Clotilde Hesme), who observed the accident from her balcony, goes downstairs to help the victim, a Moldovan member of a construction crew who is working in France illegally. She accompanies him to the hospital, where he lies near death with a broken spine. Should he recover, she learns, he will be a quadriplegic. Juliette meets and befriends the victim's distraught young wife, Vera (Arta Dobroshi). The crime might never have been solved. Yet Al, hoping to allay his worst fears, surreptitiously visits the hospital and observes the patient in intensive care. Racked with guilt, he slips away but is recognized as the hit-and-run driver by Juliette, whom he passes in a hallway. Following Al, she confronts him and appoints herself Al and Vera's go-between for financial restitution. Vera, in dire financial straits, faces horrific hospital bills. The movie's view of the treatment of immigrants who are in France illegally reminds you that the United States is not the only inhospitable destination for the poor from outside its borders. There are further complications. Although Juliette is pregnant by her sometime lover, an older college philosophy lecturer, she has an impulsive fling with Al. Money rules. When Al appeals to his future father-in-law for a handout, he is contemptuously rebuffed, and the wedding is jeopardized. In this volatile climate, the story spirals toward chaos as the characters" feelings change from moment to moment. Each thread of the plot is followed to its dangling, ragged conclusion in a movie that may be painful to watch but that maintains a chilly integrity. Three Worlds Directed by Catherine Corsini; written by Ms. Corsini and Benoît Graffin; director of photography, Claire Mathon; edited by Muriel Breton; music by Sune Martin and Grégoire Hetzel; sets by Mathieu Menut; costumes by Anne Schotte; produced by Fabienne Vonier; released by Film Movements. In French and Moldovan, with English subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 41 minutes. WITH: Raphaël Personnaz (Al), Clotilde Hesme (Juliette), Arta Dobroshi (Vera), Reda Ketab (Franck), Alban Aumard (Martin), Adèle Haenel (Marion), Jean-Pierre Malo (Testard), Laurent Capelluto (Frédéric) and Rasha Bukvic (Adrian).