Karol is still holding onto that 2 franc piece, but as this segment opens, he is down by the river at night and contemplating tossing it in — perhaps a final goodbye to the French adventure that turned out so badly for him. But he can’t bring himself to throw it and as he looks down at this hand, he notices the coin sticking to his hand. France still has a hold on him. Dominique still has a hold on him. He will continue to cling.

We next get one of those signature brief Kieslowski flash forwards. We see Dominique slowly entering a hotel room. It sounds like heavy breathing accompanying the tango music on the soundtrack … this is Karol’s vision for the future.

Now Karol is back at work in the salon, assisting a middle aged woman named Jadwiga who reminds him that he has an appointment to get to. He thanks her, takes off his white hairstylist coat, tells his brother “it’s payday” and rushes off to that appointment. His brother is disappointed to see him run out because now that he’s back, all of the women are asking for Karol to cut their hair.

Karol heads off to a strange “exchange” market that appears to be some form of black market that deals only in foreign currencies. The young man running the place confirms that he does her hair, then asks if that’s all he does with her and laughs at his own joke. He notes that Karol is plain looking and found a clever way out of Paris. He puts him to work as a security guard outside, carrying a gun that “only shoots tear gas.”

Karol then pretends to be a security officer, striking poses and staring at a group of men who then disburse.

He’s back at his new place in a scene that reminds me of the tape recording detective scenes from “The Double Life of Veronique,” except here Karol is putting himself through the paces of the French language, working on his verb conjugations. He sees the Dominique sculpture from across the room in darkness, slowly makes his way over, and as the recording gets to faire plaisir, to satisfy, he kisses the statute.

Now back on the job, Karol notices someone suspicious looking on the periphery of the market grounds. It is a tall balding man — and we recognize him as Piotr Machalica, the actor who played Romek in Dekalog 9. Karol gets his boss to tell him that someone is watching. The boss takes one look at the man and asks Karol to hide him … he tries, but given that he’s about four inches shorter than his boss, it doesn’t have much effect.

His brother Jurek checks in with Karol while shaving, asks if he’s happy with his living arrangement. When Karol says yes, he asks for something in return — not money, haircuts. He requests 10 per week, Karol offers 5, Jurek accepts 7. Before leaving, he says that a sad looking man in his 40s was looking for him. Karol realizes immediately that it is Niholaj. He didn’t leave a number, Jurek says, but seems very happy that he arrived safely.

Back at this security job, Karol is asleep in the back of a Mercedes. His boss has another man up front with him and as they arrive at an empty field, the man asks if “the idiot” can hear them. His boss assures him that he can’t. It’s interesting to me that character in this film repeatedly play on the slur about Polish people that they are unintelligent, something they may have internalized during this particularly difficult time economically.

The men begin a discussion about the land that major corporations, including IKEA, are going to be soon purchasing and how they can take advantage of the land speculation by grabbing parcels now. Karol listens to this and adds to his ongoing scheme for getting rich quick — not for the sake of the wealth itself, but to dominate Dominique.