`HIDEOUS KINKY,' ON PATH TO DISCOVERY, AT TIMES LOSES ITS WAY.

Byline: Bob Strauss Daily News Film Critic

Apparently wishing to distance herself as far from ``Titanic'' as possible, a thoroughly dowdied-down Kate Winslet wanders aimlessly around arid Morocco in ``Hideous Kinky.''

She plays a hippie truth-seeker, circa 1972, whose quest for spiritual enlightenment is stymied constantly by the more immediate needs of her two young daughters, who are always insisting on being fed, sheltered, sent to school or some such other mundane distraction.

Based on Esther Freud's semi-autobiographical novel about her own exotic childhood, the film casts a sympathetic eye on a particular kind of New Age solipsist.

Winslet's Julia can't unravel her selfish need for adventure and escape from a genuine desire to give her girls a unique, enriching upbringing. Deeper psychological forces are at work, of course, but for the most part the film is happy to portray Julia as a decent if misguided soul.

The frustrating thing about the picture is that the clearly intelligent Julia fails to learn anything serious about herself - even after a tearful encounter with a sympathetic Algerian holy man, who gently guides her straight to the core of at least one of her problems.

But she is forever responding to circumstances, usually dire and of an economic nature, and depending on unreliable men.

You never hate her for it, but you often wish that she'd get a clue.

The film is much more successful at capturing the bewildered but vivid lives of the two bright girls, skeptical 8-year-old Bea (Bella Riza) and enthusiastic 6-year-old Lucy (Carrie Mullan).

Bea longs for some kind of normalcy, Lucy still thinks Mummy's a goddess, and they both adapt remarkably to the sensory blast of color, music and textures that marks the bustling desert trade center of Marrakech.

Director Gilles MacKinnon (``Small Faces,'' ``Regeneration''), and his detail-attuned cinematographer John de Borman (``The Full Monty''), bring this world to vibrant life in all its striking diversity.

MacKinnon is also deft at conveying social complexities in a matter-of-fact manner. This comes out best through the expatriates' relationships with Bilal (Said Taghmaoui, best-known for the French urban drama ``La Haine''). He's a sweet-natured street acrobat from a remote mountain village, whom Julia takes as a lover and the kids turn into a surrogate dad (their real father, a neglectful English poet, is rarely heard from).

Another well-meaning screw-up, Bilal is shocked to discover Julia is as broke as he is - Moroccans presume all Europeans have money - and he can't take the extremes of welcoming delight and ostracism when he introduces his new ``family'' to the folks back home.

There are plenty more astute depictions of the ways in which Eurotrash, stoners and genuine pilgrims clashed and meshed with the ancient North African society at that peculiar point in history.

And Winslet is, I daresay, better suited to play the kind of headstrong earth mother that era produced than she was as ``Titanic's'' poor little posh girl.

Better suited but, in the end, no deeper. ``Hideous Kinky'' is a journey of discovery that is ultimately more travelogue than inner exploration.

The title, by the way, comes from a nonsense chant the two girls recite for no apparent reason, not from anything too awful to contemplate that happens to them.

Although it's likely that, for Freud and her sister, a lot of their childhood felt pretty h&k at the time.

THE FACTS

The film: ``Hideous Kinky'' (R; language, sex, nudity, drug use, children in jeopardy).

The stars: Kate Winslet, Said Taghmaoui, Bella Riza, Carrie Mullan.

Behind the scenes: Directed by Gillies MacKinnon. Written by Billy MacKinnon, based on Esther Freud's novel. Produced by Ann Scott. Released by Stratosphere Entertainment.

Running time: One hour, 39 minutes.

Playing: Promenade 16, Woodland Hills; Playhouse 7, Pasadena; Media Center 8, Burbank; Monica, Santa Monica; Westside Pavilion, West L.A.; Sunset 5, West Hollywood.

Our rating: Three stars.

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Photo: In ``Hideous Kinky,'' Kate Winslet plays a hippie truth-seeker, circa 1972, whose quest for spiritual enlightenment is constantly stymied by the more immediate needs of her two young daughters.