Not about a woman called Dispeller but about a legitimate practice in China where wives, who find out their husbands are cheating on them, employee someone to dispel the mistress – a mistress dispeller.

The opening title card of this documentary by Elizabeth Lo tells you straight away that no scene in the film has been staged or re-enacted and that all participants agreed either before or afterwards to the filming. It needs this disclaimer because the scenes we are about to see – of a straying husband and his mistress, of the husband and wife at odds – seem too intimate to be able to be caught on film.

It’s hard to believe that this isn’t staged because the camera is there in so many domestic moments. Mrs Li suspects her husband of cheating on her as he is often working late and away from home. Her brother connects her with Teacher Wang, a young woman who is particularly successful at breaking up affairs. She works in education and has studied psychology and we can see she really understands how to read people.

The first challenge is for her to be introduced naturally to the husband and for him to not suspect her motive. Then she must engineer a meeting where he feels comfortable to open up to her about his infidelity. Then she must work out a way to get him to introduce her to his mistress. And then to build a trusting relationship with the mistress so that she can persuade her to end the relationship.

I wondered what Mr Li and his mistress Fei Fei thought the camera crew was there for. In a fascinating interview with Lo here – https://www.thecurb.com.au/mistress-dispeller-interview-elizabeth-lo/, she explains how many years she spent filming different couples, never knowing if they would eventually agree to have the footage included in a movie. Mr Li and Fei Fei thought they were part of a film on romance in modern China and Lo says that after each day of filming, she would ask if they could film for another day. The film is the way it is – the story of just one family – because they all agreed to it at the end.

What strikes me most is what a measured and mature approach it is to infidelity. At a surface reading, this could be sensationalist or prurient but there seems to be a deep empathy for all of the participants, particularly the mistress. She is not demonised in any way and Wang points out that she is the one who is suffering the most. 

It is a language and dialogue heavy film, not the best if you are struggling to stay awake. If you can stick with it though, it would be hard not to be moved by the situation and the approach. Full props to Lo for crafting something so delicate and empathetic.