‘The Five Devils’: It’s only the demons of the past, but that’s enough

At the same time, there is something both supernatural and ominous in this tale, specifically as it relates to a young girl named Vicky, played by the remarkably self-possessed newcomer Sally Dramé. Vicky is the daughter of Joanne (Adèle Exarchopoulos), an instructor at the center, and her Senegalese immigrant husband, Jimmy (Moustapha Mbengue), a firefighter. In an opening scene, we discover Vicky’s unusual, perhaps superhuman gift: a heightened sense of smell that allows her to replicate any aroma. Vicky collects jars filled with fragrant, handcrafted cocktails — soap, grass, etc. — created to evoke specific people, places and things. One is labeled “Mom.”

One day, Jimmy’s kid sister Julia (Swala Emati) — who, unlike her brother, was born and raised in France, and who, it is suggested, has a troubled past — shows up unexpectedly, moving in with Joanne and Jimmy until she can get settled. When Vicky cooks up a scent jar for her aunt (who smells like alcohol, Vicky notes), it triggers something extraordinary, opening up a kind of cosmic wormhole in the time-space continuum through which the little girl is able to observe, firsthand, events from years ago whenever she takes a whiff of eau de Julia.

So — is this a tale of time travel? Or a vividly rendered metaphor of communion between these two characters, who seem to be somehow spiritually linked, via a sort of olfactory portal? (A third possibility: Maybe it’s just a convenient way for director Léa Mysius, who co-wrote the screenplay with Paul Guilhaume, to dispense with backstory. Conventional flashbacks, as it were, with a sci-fi twist.) There’s a fifth character who shows up in these blast-from-the-past scenes: Joanna’s co-worker Nadine (Daphné Patakia), who, in the film’s first five minutes, we learn is badly scarred.

Attentive viewers will start to connect some dots here: The film opens with shots of a conflagration.

Just how Julia, Joanne, Jimmy and Nadine are linked by a common history is unspooled slowly and with skill by Mysius, whose slight story gains heft — and deeper mystery — by the way in which it’s told. It has elements of melodrama, of the soap opera even. But the film’s magical realism heightens its otherwise conventional contours and sharpens its otherworldly pleasures.

Dramé is a wonder, and Exarchopoulos (“Blue Is the Warmest Color”) is excellent as ever, grounding this dreamlike fable in a believable mother-daughter relationship. There are no real demons here, only those insubstantial ones from bygone days — unforgiven betrayals, old jealousies, unforgotten guilt — that bedevil the present.

Unrated. At the Angelika Film Center Mosaic. Contains brief nudity, sex, coarse language, racist bullying and some disturbing images. In French with subtitles. 103 minutes.