Helin Çelik’s otherworldly, impressionistic documentary opens with lines from a poem by Rumi evoking Mount Qaf, a mystical mountain erected by Allah. In this place that encircles the Earth and touches heaven dwells the anqa, a fabled female bird that symbolises resurrection after misfortunes.

The three Jordanian women at the heart of Çelik’s film are going through their own journeys of healing and rebirth. Mostly shot in profile or from behind, they speak of the horrifying violence they have endured. Their stories of abuse, abduction and incarceration starkly contrast with their domestic surroundings, which are shot with amazing warmth. From the rustling of the curtains to the gentle shimmering of a dallah coffee pot on the stove, the sights and sounds of the everyday are at once calming and eerie. It seems unimaginable that life can go on in all its normalcy while these suffering souls are still walled in by their harrowing experiences.

As the women’s recollections fluidly flow into one another, the stylised editing deliberately makes little distinction between their environments, creating an impression that they are all living under one roof. This poignantly emphasises how their turmoil is far from an individual issue but a collective one. One woman speaks of her forbidding parents; another candidly mentions a macabre desire to kill her children as a means to shield them from harm. Chilling in their matter-of-factness, these fragmentary thoughts reveal the cyclic nature of trauma.

Children occasionally appear in the film, their voices and laughter tempering the women’s sombre emotions. A question mark hangs heavy over their wide-eyed innocence: will their futures be filled with darkness or light?

• Anqa is on True Story from 31 January.