Mistress Dispeller: Storyville on BBC4
Reality television is typically far from authentic. Often staged with pre-written dialogue and populated by self-important individuals who fancy themselves celebrities, it represents a spectacle of artificiality. In contrast, Chinese documentary filmmaking presents a starkly different approach. An exceptional documentary by filmmaker Elizabeth Lo delves profoundly into the domestic life of an ordinary middle-aged couple, Mr and Mrs Li, whose marriage teetered on the brink of collapse.
An Unscripted Exploration of Marital Discord
A caption at the outset of this ninety-minute film emphasised that nothing was scripted or re-enacted. The camera observed discreetly from the sidelines, commencing from the moment Mrs Li resolved to hire a Mistress Dispeller named Wang Zhenxi, described as the SAS of marriage guidance counsellors. 'I can envision an affair occurring in any family except my own,' lamented Mrs Li, mother to an adolescent daughter. 'My husband and I were once so intimate. Now it feels as though an invisible sheet of paper separates us.'
Mr Li, a man around fifty with the puffy countenance of a heavy drinker, was no adept at deception. He had begun staying out late nightly and habitually left his phone unattended. When his wife discovered a message from an unknown woman advising him to wear long johns in cold weather, she deduced the truth. Who but a lover, Mrs Li agonised, would discuss something as personal as thermal underwear with a married man? The conversation unfolded in Mandarin Chinese, with the entire programme subtitled.
Cultural Insights and Voyeuristic Engagement
From the initial scenes, where Mrs Li sat in a hairdresser's chair with tears streaming down her face, this film served as both a window into a distant, markedly different culture and a compelling act of voyeurism. Luoyang, a city situated roughly midway between Wuhan and Beijing, is a sprawling expanse of high-rise grey concrete, with tower blocks resembling storage facilities packed with diminutive apartments.
Mr Li's girlfriend was a profoundly lonely woman in her thirties named Fei Fei. She encountered him while zipping around Luoyang on her moped, delivering frozen food. Her seduction strategies were direct and potent: abundant flattery, affection, and alcohol. In a rare poetic instance, as he confessed to the affair, Mr Li articulated the allure: 'With my wife, it's living. With the girl, it's more like basking in the sun.'
The Role of the Mistress Dispeller
The Mistress Dispeller, Ms Wang, presented herself to Mr Li as a new acquaintance of his wife and, over a bowl of shrimp soup, admonished him to improve his conduct. Subsequently, posing as Mr Li's cousin, she met Fei Fei and issued the disconsolate woman her dismissal. Remarkably, none of the parties contested. In China, defiance is deemed unacceptable. Yet, infidelity appears to be a universal phenomenon, transcending cultural boundaries.
This documentary starkly contrasts with conventional reality TV, offering an unfiltered, poignant examination of marital strife, cultural norms, and human vulnerability.
