- Release year: 2024
- Director: Elizabeth Lo.
- Producers: Maggie Li, Elizabeth Lo, and Emma D. Miller.
- Screenplay by: Charlotte Munch Bengtsen and Elizabeth Lo.
- Cinematography by: Elizabeth Lo.
- Composer: Brian McOmber.
Synopsis: a woman engages a service that breaks men up with their mistresses after learning about her husband’s affair.
Shotgun Commentary: fascinating documentary that is sure to give you culture shock if you are a Westerner.
Review
Mistress Dispeller is a documentary about a business that does just that: drive mistresses away. Or, in other words, break up the relationship between the cheating spouse and their lover.
There is always room to be surprised
The documentary focuses on one couple in particular in order to show exactly how it is that this business works, but also a great deal of fascinating insight into Chinese culture. Everything regarding love, marriage, cheating, and divorce is treated differently in China than it is in Westerner cultures, making this also a taste of culture shock without even needing to step on an aeroplane.
The basics are similar, marriage is a partnership that evolves and grows. It will look different as you grow old, but the love is still there. As for the dating scene, they hang advertisements with their credentials on horizontal ropes tied to trees, like one would in the newspaper decades ago.
Of course, this is not the norm, but it is one example of many that will make your eyebrows go up to your hairline in surprise. Divorce is also not that different if it is compared to how Western societies thought of it a few decades ago. According to the documentary, in China, it is still seen as a failure, at least by older couples.
Pumpkin eaters aplenty
When the real shock comes is when cheating comes into play. One is used to seeing all sorts of reactions when a person gets cheated on in the movies or on TV. If they catch them in the act, they either yell, or punch, or kill, or simply leave the person cheating. If they don’t…well, pretty much the same.
What we are NOT used to seeing is a person going to an actual business for them to break up the cheating party and the lover. There is a business for that. Meaning, it is so common that someone can actually profit from that situation.
Apparently, there are pretty common businesses, which is even wilder, but definitely a worthy subject of study for a documentary, especially if one expects to screen it in Western countries. In Mistress Dispeller’s case, it is a woman who contacts the agency to get her husband to leave his mistress.
Capitalism wins again
Instead of having a normal conversation between two adults about the issue and whether it is fixable or not, she prefers to go to a third party for them to fix the problem in the most dramatic way possible. We are talking, infiltration, manipulation and a dash of therapy for all the involved, a technique that proves to be quite effective, if a little over the top for people allergic to drama, like yours truly.
Still, the most shocking part about the piece is the fact that it exists at all. Somehow, the filmmakers got the permission of everybody involved before and after the shooting to screen their affair (pun unintended) with audiences all over the world. Now, whoever got that deal should definitely become one of the hottest producers in the world because that level of mastery is rare.
All in all, Mistress Dispeller is a fascinating documentary that shares a whole new way to look at sentimental relationships. Yes, it will probably make you mad as hell from time to time due to its theme, but it is so exquisitely different that you won’t be able to avert your eyes from the screen even for a second.
Advice to take from this movie:
- If a man cheats, it is NOT the wife that has to improve themselves.
- Contrary to what apparently some mistresses think, in a cheating situation there IS such thing as wrong and right.
- If you are feeling lonely, trying to warm your bed with somebody else’s partener is the lowest, most pathetic thing you can do.
- Extra tip, because it calls for it. If you are unhappy with your current marriage, get a grip and divorce. Cheating is for cowards.
What’s your take? Have you watched Mistress Dispeller? Don’t hesitate to let me know your thoughts in the comments section below, or leave a message in my contact page! For more reviews and cinema-related articles, check out the rest of my blog! 😀