Writer-director Jérémy Clapin’s new film Meanwhile on Earth is a deeply effective meditation on the process of grief and mourning. Elsa (Megan Northam) is in a state of arrested development after her cosmonaut brother Franck (Sébastien Pouderoux) is lost on a routine mission into the stratosphere and back. Soon Elsa discovers an otherworldly solution that could bring Franck back home. But at what cost? Clapin grounds his film in reality while gently introducing the incredible to explore loss and acceptance and who we become in the process. Anchored by a genuine performance by Northam, this is a heartfelt look at loss through the lens of a sci-fi mindbender.

After a cold opening that sets up Franck’s death in space, we get to know who Elsa and Franck’s surviving are. Elsa works at a care facility for the elderly with her mother Annick (Catherine Salée), acting as her superior. At home, her younger brother Vincent (Roman Williams) and her father Daniel (Sam Louwyck) exist peacefully, lovingly even, after a loss that they just can’t seem to shake. While the statue in honor of Franck at the town’s roundabout stands as a tone-deaf memorial the family simply goes through the motions in the hope that things might get easier. Then something happens.

Elsa begins to hear her brother Franck’s voice near an antenna atop a nearby hill. She is informed that her brother is being held by beings in space. He is alive, and the only way to get him back home is to find 5 dispensible humans to offer the extraterrestrial beings in exchange. This poses several problematic questions. Who is less important than your loved ones? What would you do to bring them back? Clapin sets up a bitter existential conundrum and then let’s the narrative play out in a breezy, unpredictable fashion. At first, the answers to the problem are easy. Then Elsa runs into her humanity, thwarting any clear outcome.

Again I must praise Northam‘s performance. Elsa is a tragic character grappling with deep loss and a multidimensional existential crisis. We are treated to a compassionate, raw performance that you can’t help but connect with. The supporting characters all deliver fine work as well.

What really makes the film work is the approach that Clapin takes with the surreal and otherworldly moments in the film. I don’t dare spoil things with explanation, but this is along the lines of magical realism. The effects aren’t the star, the story and the performances are. This gives everything a remarkable depth. Clapin even goes so far as to compare the journey of loss to becoming another person entirely. As Elsa struggles through grief those around her become less and less important, as if accepting the loss of retrieving her brother would make her alien.

Meanwhile on Earth is layered with meaning and nuance in such a rich way that you will be feasting on the questions explored long after the film ends. Do yourself a favor and settle in for this beautifully crafted film.