Liliom’s memories take on a dreamlike, even hallucinatory aspect, as a pair of enormous white robotic arms methodically sets the stage with lush greenery for Liliom’s first stroll with the young servant girl Julie. When the lovers walk among the plants, a robotic arm holds aloft an illuminated sphere that suggests a romantic moon. Later, Liliom hurries to a robbery that will prove fatal along a narrow treadmill. In addition to moving props, the robotic arms also dispense fog and stage blood. All of this hints at the deliberate, mechanical aspect of memory.

The two stars play refreshingly against type. Jörg Pohl’s Liliom is not a brawny brute, and Maja Schöne’s Julie is no virginal dope. Both are stubborn and strong-willed, yet vulnerable — which is exactly what makes their relationship so combustible. The night of their stroll, their animal attraction before and during a torrid sex scene on a park bench is immediate and persuasive. Equally fierce are the claustrophobic encounters in the couple’s cramped quarters once financial hardship tests their relationship.

Mr. Mundruczo’s filmmaking background is apparent in various “cinematic” effects, including loud, intense music and a lengthy domestic scene where the actors, largely out of view of the audience, are filmed live by a roving camera. But such techniques never overwhelm the sheer presence of the actors, whose vitality seems amplified by the imposing automatons on either side of the stage. The actors skip rope and splash in a pool with ferocious energy, partaking in a physical exuberance that is denied Liliom once he arrives in the beyond.

In this vision of purgatory, Liliom confronts a contemporary cast of characters who teach him lessons in 21st-century mores. They lecture him on toxic masculinity and make him write “I am part of the repressive patriarchy” 100 times on a wall. Through it all, Liliom remains defiant and stubborn, refusing, for instance, to address his companions with their preferred pronouns. Mr. Mundruczo’s depiction of these travelers as uptight and judgmental sometimes borders on caricature, and it often seems to be a commentary on political correctness as much as on Liliom’s behavior.