Cinema Without Borders: Love, Interrupted—Mistress Dispeller

When it comes to documentaries, at times half the battle for audiences can be won with an unusual idea. As in the case of Elizabeth Lo’s Mistress Dispeller which deals with the curious case of a professional “mistress dispeller”, Teacher Wang (Wang Zhenxi), hired by a woman to save her marriage by breaking up her husband’s extramarital affair.

In fact, a Mistress Dispeller is quite the opposite of Wakaresaseya in Japan—agents who are contracted to sabotage marriages or relationships by seducing partners. Teacher Wang, on the contrary, is part of the growing and evolving anti-infidelity industry in China, if one can call it that. The film had its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival and then went on to play at the Toronto International Film Festival. Lo documents the entire process in all its nitty-gritty. After a consultation with Teacher Wang, the betrayed wife has a significant task ahead—to organically bring her into the family fold. She does so by having Teacher Wang pose as a friend wanting to learn badminton. What follows is how she embeds herself in the set-up and gradually gains the trust and confidence of all three. She may be out to bring an illicit relationship down but is not quite a destroyer. Instead, she comes across as a psychotherapist we’d all do well to have, to confide in and to sort out our minds and impulses.