Departures tells the story of Giralda, an undertaker who accompanies deceased human beings into their afterlife. Interpreted with the means of Spanish flamenco dance and music, and set at an old East German ship canal lift, the film creates an associative fusion between Northern and Southern Europe, movement and silence, farewell and eternity.

After three decades of hiding his feminine impulses, renowned Spanish dancer Manuel Liñán comes out to challenge convention by pursuing his love of performing flamenco - dressed as a woman.

After Whim makes it through an unconventional audition for the dance piece Syncope, the choreographer remains unsatisfied with her full commitment. But what she and the other dancers experience in rehearsals is only a glimpse of the dark vision he will impose on them.