The war is over in “Beanpole,” at least officially. The hollow eyes of those crowding the hospital tell a different story, as do the faces of those drifting through a communal building, spilling through the streets and onto trams. But like the thin young nurse nicknamed Beanpole, the men and women in this startling movie don’t complain or even speak much about their suffering, perhaps because it would be like describing the air that they breathe.

Set in Leningrad in 1945, “Beanpole” opens on its title character (Viktoria Miroshnichenko) in mid-seizure, her body frozen, open eyes fixed and breathing labored. Other women, similarly dressed in white, bustle around her, their voices muffled. From a slightly high angle, the camera steadily holds on her face as she stares into nothingness. Then someone stretches a hand up to pinch her cheek, trying to rouse her and bring her back to the dimly lit present. Beanpole, whose real name is Iya, is taller than everyone else in the room, taller than almost everyone. She sways far above this world, even when it claws at her.

Most war movies are about battle; “Beanpole” is about what happens afterward. For Beanpole, a hospital nurse, the clamor of war has quieted to an unremitting throb. At work, she cares for soldiers whose bandages and missing limbs are only the most obvious expressions of collective trauma. The pain is everywhere. Early on, when Beanpole can’t secure a babysitter, she brings her boy, Pashka (Timofey Glazkov), into the soldiers’ ward. As this painfully small child stands before the attentive, visibly moved men, his tiny, malnourished frame — embodying such unspeakable loss — seems to fill the ward.

Something terrible happens soon after, and while it’s almost unbearable, you should hang on. This is only the second feature from the sensationally talented Russian director Kantemir Balagov (who was born in 1991), and it’s a gut punch. It’s also a brilliantly told, deeply moving story about love — in all its manifestations, perversity and obstinacy — one that starts to take shape when Beanpole’s friend Masha (a fantastic Vasilisa Perelygina) returns to Leningrad, medals pinned to her uniform. Inside Beanpole’s claustrophobic flat, with its peeling paint and stained wallpaper, they circle each other, trying to find equilibrium where there is none.