The roads taken serve as an allegory for the endless roads and interweaving in the mind of Marie (Julia Windischbauer) as she drives down the highway to a destination unknown. Amidst a panic attack and likely attempted suicide at a gas station, she meets the charming but enigmatic Gerlinde (Almut Zilcher), who asks her to come along for the ride. The encounter of these women will not only change the trajectory of the roads taken across Europe, but also the ones in Marie’s head.

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Opening Julia Windischbauer’s fiction film debut Callas, Darling, which first premiered at the Max Ophüls Film Festival in January, and now screened at the Local Artists competition at Crossing Europe, where it bagged the non-cash prize, is the unmistakable voice of Greek opera singer Maria Callas. But that is not the only incentive for Windischbauer, who not only plays Marie, but also delivers her directional debut, to name the film after her. In fact, by the end of the film, Marie will define her outlook on life as “before Gerlinde” and “after Gerlinde”. Just as there was opera before and after Callas.

So, what ties these women together? Windischbauer isn’t one for spelling everything out. It is clear that Marie recently lost someone, but there is no extended unpacking of her emotional weight. Gerlinde, one learns from bits and pieces, from stolen glances and exposition-providing camera angles, has lost her life partner. She is now buried in her hometown of Vuno in Albania. Gerlinde can convince Marie to take her there. She puts a goal on the lost roads taken. Along the way, they temporarily pick up a third hitchhiker (Lea Drinda), forcing Marie to confront her discomfort in opening up to others, as well as her jealousy over Gerlinde’s attention wandering elsewhere.

In Albania, bits and pieces of Marie’s mysterious background start to appear from amongst the rubble of storytelling, when her brother Leon (Sebastian Schneider) enters the picture. His are the constant calls that Marie has been ignoring throughout the film. A fragile bond of sibling care and condescending impatience emerges, as the two of them, Gerlinde, and local holiday-makers Lindita (Elda Sorra) and Ruppy (Jeremias Meyer) form a peculiar, drift-along, makeshift companionship, soaking up the Albanian countryside.

Describing the different players and angles sounds like a lot more plot than one finds in Callas, Darling. This might be the main nitpick in Windischbauer’s film. Within the genre of a road movie, the only narrative obligation is to get from A to B. What happens in between is up to the writer or director. Windischbauer refrains from feeding her characters too much proactive agency. Instead, it's mostly scenery flying by the car, cigarettes smoked on the porch, and the occasional heart-to-heart at dinner. That encompasses some raw quality about grief. But more often than not, it lacks a certain focus to truly make this a winner.

Callas, Darling was produced by Julia Windischbauer for Julia Windischbauer Produktion, Anja Troelenberg and Jakob Serdaroglu.