Ten years after winning the 1989 Cannes Palme d'Or for sex, lies, and videotape, Steven Soderbergh returns to the Palais on the anniversary with a special Out Of Competition screening of his newest film, The Limey.

Following commercial and critical success with Out Of Sight last year, Soderbergh has chosen this season to serve up a tale of violent revenge. "The Limey" - aka Dave Wilson (Terrence Stamp) - is a tough English ex-con who has come to Los Angeles to avenge his daughter Jenny's death. After a decade behind bars in England, Wilson is adrift in time and place.

The Los Angeles way of life, and even the SoCal language are bizarre and barely understandable to him. Hoping to find clues to piece together what happened to his daughter, Wilson finds himself battling an army of LA's worst criminals.

Deadly beatings, falls from high buildings, and chases down mountainous roads may irritate Wilson but nothing that criminal minds can muster will stand in his way. Wilson soon discovers that his daughter's death was no accident, and traces it back to her love affair with record producer Terry Valentine, played by Peter Fonda. But Wilson doesn't get mad, he gets even, and when this Englishman decides to dole out some bodily harm, all of Los Angeles will know that the Limey has been in town.

Central to the success of The Limey is Soderbergh's casting coup of Stamp and Fonda, two Oscar-winning performers (Stamp for 1962's Billy Budd, Fonda for co-writing Easy Rider in 1969 and acting in 1997's Ulee's Gold) in the roles of Wilson and Valentine. Both actors first burst onto the screen in the 1960s, with acclaimed performances in which they created characters that defined many of their future roles - which explains why Soderbergh calls the film, "a very simple revenge film with lots of 1960s baggage." Such baggage not only impacts on their roles, but in Stamp's case led to a unique story-telling device - Soderbergh went so far as to acquire the rights to clips of Terrence Stamp in Ken Loach's Poor Cow (1967) for the introspective flashbacks that deepen the character's back-story.

Fonda and Stamp are supported by a strong cast with such veterans as Lesley Anne Warren, (Victor/Victoria), Joe Dallesandro (Andy Warhol's Dracula) and Barry Newman (TV's Petrocelli). But as the mystery unravels, the Southern California landscapes come into their own, making full use of its locations (the film was shot in Los Angeles, from the Hollywood Hills to the barrio of Boyle Heights, from the Long Beach boardwalk to Griffith Park, and it climaxes in the redwood-studded bluffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean at Northern California's Big Sur).

Soderbergh - a master of ambiguity and adept at juggling the many different points of view and cross purposes of his characters - keeps a tight rein, presenting a kaleidoscopic vision that keeps the viewer involved throughout. The script was penned by Lem Dobbs (Kafka), who - together with Soderbergh - had Stamp in mind at the start when they created the role.

The film was produced by Scott Kramer and longtime Soderbergh collaborator John Hardy for Artisan Entertainment, and both have high praise for Soderbergh. "Steven allowed the film to be organic, letting it grow, letting what occurs be used, rather than imposing a specific vision or will," says Kramer. Adds Hardy: "When you see The Limey you will see a work by a consummate film-maker who trusts his written material and yet is completely enamoured of the principals playing the major roles in the film. He uses them and works with them to create a film that explores these issues in a way that has never been done before."

Artisan Entertainment, the reincarnated company formally known as Live Entertainment, is enjoying its first collaboration with Soderbergh. The combined talents of Presidents Amir Malin and Bill Block and ceo Mark Curcio, along with their team, should help The Limey in its quest for box office justice. Douglas Brodoff