An early-middle-aged woman with a bright smile and a nonthreateningly frumpy dress sense, Wang Zhenxi has an extremely specific set of skills. Part therapist, part spy, part master strategist, she helps spouses expunge pesky mistresses and lovers from their partners’ lives, hopefully restoring monogamous harmony in the process. She’s called a mistress dispeller, which sounds very awkward in English and yet that’s a perfectly apt description for the cleansing process that Ms Wang performs.
Somehow, director Elizabeth Lo – who must have some killer persuasive skills of her own – managed to talk to Wang, her clients Mrs and Mr Li, and, amazingly, Mr Li’s mistress Fei Fei, into taking part in this film. Each corner of the love triangle gets to say their piece, and although the whole setup may seem a little strange what with the hiring of a professional relationship wrecker, ultimately the innate goodness and human vulnerability of these people shines through.
The film effectively opens with Mrs Li, who may seem at first steely and sharp, especially judging by her aggressive badminton style, but we see her crying silently while gets her hair done. She’s the one who brings Wang onboard, recommended by her younger brother, and soon her husband is all in as well, keen as he is to be rid of his troublesome, emotionally vulnerable mistress, but without breaking the poor thing’s heart. This is Fei Fei, a Becky with the good hair, to quote Beyoncé (and she does have stunning hair), and she is no fool. She has worked out that she has opted to have love dispensed in little crumbs once a month from a man who’s essentially not available because, deep down, she doesn’t believe she deserves anything better.
If the film has a fault it’s that you don’t ever find out exactly why that is, or what makes these people tick on a deeper level. Nevertheless, Lo’s camerawork makes what must have been pretty spontaneous situations look elegantly composed, and there’s a precise balance here between humour and empathy that keeps the tone always on that anxious cusp between absurdity and sincerity. It’s easy to imagine that this could be turned into a streamer series, but as a stand-alone documentary about normal lives and the gossip around them, it’s just right.
