Mistress Dispeller
Elizabeth Lo / China & United States / 2024 / 94 min
One of the biggest surprises of the year is a love triangle drama from China where a heartbroken woman hires another woman to sabotage her husband's affair. A love story unlike any other.
Mrs. Li suspects her husband of having an affair. She is in shock, but has not given up on love, so she resorts to a method that is less far-fetched than it sounds: She hires the young woman Wang Zhenxi to infiltrate and sabotage her husband’s relationship. And that’s exactly what Zhenxi is an official expert in. Through an agency, she can be hired to destroy affairs and save marriages.
With little white lies and arranged meetings, Zhenxi approaches both husband and mistress. Over many months – and a hell of a lot of badminton dates – she manipulates her way into all the intricate emotions that the unusual love triangle is entangled in. But behind her sweet facade, she has one goal: to get rid of the mistress.
What makes ‘Mistress Dispeller’ a completely unusual experience is that we are present in even the most private situations – and you end up understanding all four main characters. How Elizabeth Lo even made her film is a mystery, but one thing is certain: This is a movie that will make all the other directors jealous.