After playing a power-hungry ballet dancer in Darren Aronofsky’s fantastical Black Swan, the Queen of England in the historical drama The Other Boleyn Girl, and traveling to a galaxy far, far away in the Star Wars prequels, there’s little territory Natalie Portman hasn’t covered across her 23-year career on the big screen. But Rebecca Zlotowski’s Planetarium sees the actress going where she’s never gone before, as she channels ghosts and converses with spirits in EW’s exclusive clip from the period fantasy.

Planetarium follows two sisters, Laura (Portman) and Kate (Lily-Rose Depp) Barlow, who’ve commodified their divine talents of communicating with the dead, fronting otherworldly tours touting their powers throughout Europe in the 1930s.

“Are you ready? Are you ready to listen to it? Are you ready for the truth from two women?” Laura asks a crowd of paying customers who’ve assembled inside a bar to watch the sisters perform a seance, later prompting a woman to join them onstage to communicate with a recently deceased relative. “Listen to my sister’s breathing. Focus on her breathing.”

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Kate sucks air at a rapid pace while the noise of bongo drums sounds overhead. She then opens her eyes, which have rolled back into her head, and speaks as the woman’s departed child.

“I’m here, mommy,” Kate says in French as her subject breaks down in tears, asking the young medium: “Is that you my baby?”

Packed with inspiration from cinematic styles of yesteryear, Planetarium unfolds its expansive tale of the enchantment of movies against the backdrop of pre-war France, as the siblings are hired by a studio head (Emmanuel Salinger) to work their magic for the cameras on his latest production. European actors Amira Casar and Louis Garrel have supporting roles.

Planetarium enters limited release in New York City on Aug. 11, followed by a Los Angeles bow on Aug. 18. Watch the new clip from the film above.