Let’s watch the haunting "MISTRESS DISPELLER” @ FACETS + discussion, drinks
Details
The idea of “mistress dispelling” sounds like something made up for a movie: A spouse hires someone to break up their partner’s extramarital relationship. But it’s a real industry that’s emerged in China in the past decade, and it’s the subject of Elizabeth Lo’s haunting new documentary, MISTRESS DISPELLER. Lo’s previous film, “Stray,” was an observational documentary that followed three stray dogs looking for human companionship on the streets of Istanbul. “Mistress Dispeller” takes a similarly observational approach — opening text tells us that none of the sequences were restaged — but this time, it’s the humans who are wrestling with love.
The film centers on Mr. and Mrs. Li, a middle-aged couple, and Wang Zhenxi, the mistress dispeller whom Mrs. Li hires to break up her husband’s affair. Shockingly, not only did both the Lis and Wang agree to participate in the film, but so did Fei Fei, Mr. Li’s mistress, a much younger woman who lives in another city. She was attracted to Mr. Li, she says, because he was kind to others, and she wanted to feel that kindness just a little longer.
**This is the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeQ5zIc381I**
**You can buy your ticket here: https://facets.org/programs/mistress-dispeller/**
WE’ll meet in the lobby at 6.40. Hope to see you then!