Martha, a young artist, undergoes a near-death experience that forces her to confront
her past, fears, and unfulfilled love. Balancing on the edge of life and death, she must
decide who she truly is.

SYNOPSIS:

20-year-old Martha lives an ordinary life, dating her boyfriend Yegor and studying painting at university. Her epilepsy, diagnosed five years ago, has not manifested in any way. One morning, after a sleepless night, Martha is preparing to take her final exam and welcome the summer break.

However, she encounters a problem: memories of a girl named Emma, whom she met at a seaside summer camp nine years ago,

suddenly resurface. Unexpectedly, Yegor tells Martha that he recently saw Emma in Moscow. Martha is taken aback, as Emma

had moved to the USA nine years ago. That same day, on her way home from the exam, Martha accidentally runs into Emma,

leading to an extremely awkward encounter. Strong feelings for Emma reignite within her. Later, Martha has a phone argument

with Yegor due to his jealousy over Emma.

As she crosses a railway track on her way home, she barely notices an approaching train. On the other side, she encounters a strange red figure resembling a small devil. The figure stands on a hill, teasing and provoking Martha to follow.

Chasing the figure, Martha finds herself in a mysterious forest at a bizarre "Ball" of mythical beings who eerily resemble people from her life. Marta wants to leave this madness, but she can no longer comprehend where she is.

In an attempt to understand this place, she engages in a conversation with a demon-like entity, but he talks about something else entirely. As if reading her mind, he exposes Martha’s deepest fears, hints that she is in a kind of "purgatory," and tells her she must make the right choice and understand certain truths about herself. But to do so, she must return to the past.

Martha dismisses his words as nonsense and decides to leave the forest without his help, even though she doesn’t know the way. Wandering through the woods, she stumbles upon a small wooden cabin—the first memory she must revisit. Unknowingly, Martha is wandering through her own imagination while the demon pulls the strings like a puppeteer.

But who is he? In the first memory, six-year-old Martha discovers an image of a Hades from “The Rape of Persephone” in a book. After that, the figure begins appearing in her nightmares. She perceives it as something terrifying, and thus, it becomes that for her. This reveals that everything happening is inside Martha’s mind.

Martha begins to see the purpose of this self-exploration. She and the Demon embark on a journey through her memories, diving deep into her subconscious and the experiences that shaped it - her childhood summer at the country house, her time at camp where she met Emma (at age 11), memories of her mother and her teenage years.

Simultaneously, we follow Emma’s life, seeing how her personality developed. We witness what happened between her and Martha at camp, where it becomes clear that they shared a strong romantic connection. However, something just as powerful drove them apart.

As Martha relives these memories, we see Emma after their railway encounter. She experiences an unsettling feeling, and in an attempt to silence the noise in her head, she goes to a club and takes drugs.

Meanwhile, in Martha’s final memory, she revisits the day she and Emma planned to escape from camp. Emma’s parents had suddenly decided to move to the USA, and the girls knew they would likely never see each other again. Their escape plan involved Emma initiating a game of hideand-seek. When everyone hid, they would run away. But things did not go as planned.

The 18-year-old camp counselor, Grisha, was electrocuted while foolishly hiding in an electrical cabinet. Despite this tragedy, Martha and Emma ran away. This memory became the most traumatic event in Martha’s life. The guilt over the incident and the constant pressure from society caused her to suppress her feelings for Emma—she couldn’t allow herself to relive those painful events. By the end of this "journey," the Demon, as a symbol of Martha’s shadow self, completes his mission, transforming into Martha herself before vanishing.

Martha wakes up in a hospital. She now realizes that there was no "Ball," no Demon, and none of the surreal events. Immediately after seeing Emma, she was nearly hit by a train, which triggered a severe epileptic seizure—the first in many years. She was on the brink of death and spent all this time in neurointensive care under heavy medication. The events of the night were nothing more

than a near-death experience, one that profoundly changed Martha and her future. Fully regaining consciousness, her first

thought is to break up with Yegor and talk to Emma. As if reborn, Martha sneaks out of the hospital at night.

Meanwhile, Emma wakes up on a park bench after an equally chaotic night. The first thing she remembers is that Marta texted during the night, but by morning, her phone had been stolen—she never got to read the messages.

Returning home, Marta paints a picture inspired by her experience, naming it "SUSPIRIUM."

The next morning, Emma comes to see her.