Nine years after the acclaimed socially critical drama “Western,” director Valeska Grisebach once again turns her gaze to turbulent Bulgaria in “The Dreamed Adventure.” Morality, authenticity, and gender dynamics are ruthlessly exposed and analyzed in this naturalistic, slow-burning thriller set beneath Bulgaria’s starry sky.

In Svilengrad, crime hangs omnipresently in the air. The Bulgarian town begins where the law ends—so goes the local mantra. The residents do whatever it takes to survive, navigating cautiously between shady dealings and sometimes confessing their sins within the safety of familiar circles, in the dark, and over drinks. Veska, an archaeologist with roots in the region, manages to hold her own in the lawless border town until a former colleague vanishes without a trace. Suddenly, the astute archaeologist finds herself forced to unearth not only her excavation site but also a complex criminal network. In anyone’s hands other than Valeska Grisebach’s, this premise would have been the prelude to a blockbuster gangster film, but the German filmmaker chooses a radically different approach. As in “Western,” Grisebach intertwines this naturalistic neo-noir with political critique. Under her direction, the film becomes a… slow, sensual thriller full of underlying tension.