You have to respect any director who tries to stretch artistically, especially when he’s an 80-year-old winner of five Oscars. But I have to sadly report it’s painfully clear that Clint Eastwood is waaaay outside his comfort zone from the CGI-heavy opening sequence of “Hereafter,” which features a tsunami flattening a tropical resort.

Ace screenwriter Peter Morgan (“The Queen,” “Frost/Nixon”) is also outside his element, channeling scribe Guillermo Arriaga (“Babel”) to often risible effect with this globe-trotting drama of three strangers who are brought together by their interest in the afterlife.

Matt Damon manages to keep a straight face as a San Francisco psychic who considers his ability to communicate with the dead a curse rather than a gift and tries to instead support himself with a blue collar job.

But his abilities take a toll on his love life — when a woman (Bryce Dallas Howard, who’s terrible) he meets at a cooking class insists that he demonstrate his gift despite his warning it may doom their nascent relationship, the resultant revelation is about the most predictable imaginable.

The second story takes place largely in France (in subtitled French) where a celebrity TV journalist (Cecile de France) who had a near-death experience during the tsunami becomes obsessed with her visions of the afterlife. Though these visions have been a TV staple for decades, she puts her career on hold to write a book called “Hereafter: A Conspiracy of Silence.”

The third tale is set in London, where the young son of a drug-addicted single mom, who has been sent to live with foster parents, becomes obsessed with contacting his newly-deceased twin brother. Even with a subway bombing, this is the dullest of the elements, though there is an amusing montage featuring phony psychics.

The only real suspense is how Morgan will contrive to bring these three characters together.

Like many artists in their golden years, Eastwood’s work has increasingly focused on issues of mortality. With the director improbably deriving inspiration from French director Claude Lelouch this time out, “Hereafter” is unfortunately closer in quality to the misfire “Blood Work” than “Gran Torino.”

“Hereafter,” which drew polite applause at its world premiere last night at the Toronto International Film Festival, will for some inexplicable reason close the New York Film Festival next month. Warner Bros. will release on Oct. 22.