"An important point for me was that someone who does not know how love works comes across someone who wants nothing further to do with love. Attitudes from experience meet attitudes from non-experience."

This is how German director Tom Tykwer, who first came to prominence in the United States via his 1998 film "Run Lola Run," describes the two main characters in his latest movie, "The Princess and the Warrior."

He's talking about Sissi (Franka Potente, "Run Lola Run," "Blow"), a nurse in a Wuppertal, Germany psychology ward, and Bodo (Benno Furmann), an ex-soldier and aspiring criminal who has lost his wife in an accident. The two meet when Sissi, out for a walk with a patient, is struck by a truck and Bodo saves her life. Of course, since the accident was a result of Bodo being chased by a pair of security guards, whether or not he saved her life is debatable.

But the initial connection, and then tension, between the two is the engrossing conflict that makes the two hour and 15 minute-long film seem to fly by. Although the soundtrack is just as good, fans of the breakneck pace of "Run Lola Run" shouldn't expect more of the same.

While the 80-minute "Lola" sprints along, "The Princess and the Warrior" is carefully paced so that we have time to meet and understand these characters.

"At first sight they both appear very puzzling," Tykwer told an interviewer, "but I like it when you meet people in the cinema who at first seem pretty extreme, but then the film forces you to get to know them, to come to terms with them and even to like them."

And that's exactly what happens. Both Sissi and Benno do indeed appear odd and alone -- even when surrounded by others -- but as their stories unfold, we get a glimpse of the emotional baggage each carries and ultimately we're on their side, even when we don't agree with their actions, and we want them to win out in the end.

Therein lies Tykwer's biggest success. While "Lola" was a thrill ride and a cinematic examination of chance, "The Princess and the Warrior" digs deep into the heart of humanity and is, in the end, a romance; an odd romance, but a romance nevertheless.

Tykwer can't help being still a little smitten with the questions of fate and chance -- and with some remarkable camera angles -- but this is a well-written, wonderfully-acted movie about people. Don't miss it.

Grade: A

"The Princess and the Warrior" opens Fri., July 13, at Landmark's Oriental Theatre.