In her hypnotising short film World, which won the Apricot Stone Competition at the Golden Apricot International Film Festival in 2021, Christine Haroutounian recreated the horrific realm of a young woman living in a house beside her dying mother, by focusing more on her inner psychological state than on actual events. Similarly, in her first full-length film, After Dreaming, currently showing in the Regional Competition of the 22nd edition of the same festival, she conveys a feeling – the movie appears to centre more on an internal journey than on concrete observations from the road trip that actually takes place. It follows a stream of consciousness, rather than the physical trajectory of the characters, and oscillates between dream and reality. This approach, widely embraced by film auteurs worldwide, reminds us that even Tarkovsky – whom Haroutounian seems to quote in After Dreaming, consciously or not, in various scenes with pouring water – made sure to employ solid storytelling, at least in his first two features, before experimenting with “time sculpting” in Mirror, for example. Perhaps precisely because Haroutounian seems bored by storytelling and has overlooked the craftsmanship of narration from the very beginning of her career, After Dreaming is visually captivating and emotionally impactful in particular scenes, but its overall vague ideas, communicated in a perplexing manner, do not suffice for a fully absorbing experience. A loose script is never an issue in itself, but in the case of this film, it adds to the confusion, since what is meant to be conveyed through minimal words and pure film language remains too introverted to reach the audience.

The film opens with some pointless violence resulting in a murder, shown in blurred contre-jour – somewhere in Armenia, a well driller is shot by anonymous men, just for the sake of killing, because “the war never ended”. His family accepts this sorrowful fate with dignity but is concerned for his daughter Claudette (Veronika Poghosyan), and makes sure to send her away before the funeral in an attempt to spare her further trauma. Claudette embarks on a car journey without any specific direction, accompanied by Atom (Davit Beybutyan), who could be her physical guardian but is too troubled himself to offer emotional support. They wander by car or on foot, drifting through nature and human encounters without being fully present anywhere; they inevitably end up in bed, but sex and caresses seem to amplify their insecurities, rather than soothe them.

Although no battlefield is visible and no gunfire is heard, the feeling of war is omnipresent, regardless of the conflict’s current status. In what may be the film’s longest scene during a group wedding, traditional dance suddenly morphs into a human-tower performance by soldiers. A sacred ritual is inevitably transformed into a military one, as if to suggest that the reality of war has infiltrated every aspect of personal life. The world around Claudette and Atom feels distorted, with no brighter perspectives lying ahead.

Despite a lack of clear signs that the Claudette from After Dreaming is the same Claudette from World, the use of the same name seems to hint that she is either a similar type of character or perhaps even Haroutounian’s spiritual alter ego. In both films, the heroine is quiet, fragile and mysterious, oppressed by a silent suffering whose presence can be intuitively sensed but barely surfaces. And while the short format of World was just enough for a peculiar character study, the nearly two-hour running time of After Dreaming requires a more substantial foundation to keep such a portrayal afloat.

After Dreaming was produced by US/Armenian-based Mankazar Film, and co-produced by Armenia’s Kinoket, Mexico’s Splendor Omnia and the USA’s Seaview.