A perfect break between its more austere bookends, White tends to get overlooked because of its modesty, but Kieslowski's lightness of touch leads to a surprisingly affecting ending that stresses the "equality" theme in terms of matrimony.
My expectations weren't entirely dashed — technically and stylistically Kieslowski is one of the most accomplished filmmakers around — but they were sufficiently dampened to make me go back a second time to see if I'd missed something. Is White really as glib and as simpleminded in conception as it initially appears to be? After two viewings, I'm inclined to say that it is.
It's often cruel, of course, and cool as an ice-pick, but it's still endowed with enough unsentimental humanity to end with a touching, lyrical admission of the power of love.