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‘Mistress Dispeller’ Review: Elizabeth Lo Observantly Follows a Chinese Marriage in a Fidelity Crisis
Modest, melancholic and strangely romantic, Elizabeth Lo's new documentary portrays China’s booming “love industry."
Others appoint a “mistress dispeller,” a shrewd for-hire professional who embeds themselves with the duo (and the “other woman”) for a few months, both to break up the affair and repair the damaged bonds of the domestic union. In due course, we see her like a Chinese Esther Perel, a relationship therapist tasked with getting severely private people to recognize their true feelings, amid a culture that hasn’t necessary trained them for “self-care” or “me-time,” or to talk about matters that are still taboo in some parts of the country. Lo’s delicate camerawork mixes intensely long takes and often revealingly invasive close-ups, with calming nature shots frequently juxtaposed against alienating urban landscapes, while a melancholic soundtrack includes Puccini and Saint-Saëns.
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