A film worth seeing

'The great French director Claire Denis, whose film "The Intruder" looms as the pinnacle of this year's "Rendez-Vous With French Cinema 2005" series at Lincoln Center, has described its spellbinding sweep across the globe as a journey that follows "the curve of the Earth as I imagine it." Those seeking a cut-and-dried story may find the chain of visual metaphors in "The Intruder" deeply intimidating. But those willing to suspend conventional narrative expectations should revel in this two-hour, largely nonverbal immersion in pure cinema. "The Intruder" is the most challenging selection in the 17-film series, which begins 10 days of screenings today at the Walter Reade Theater. This year's edition is the strongest I remember. In its visual majesty, the film, which will be screened on March 18 and 19, is the successor to Ms. Denis's 1999 masterpiece, "Beau Travail," the most critically acclaimed French movie of the last decade.' More. I saw Beau Travail: it was like being in the mad logic of a mesmerizing dream inside someone else's stream-of-consciousness.