Mistress Dispeller Review and Discussion

Film Overview

When going through the list of films I might possibly see during CAAMFest 2025 back in May, the documentary Mistress Dispeller caught my eye:

“In China, a new industry has emerged devoted to helping couples stay married in the face of infidelity. Wang Zhenxi is part of this growing profession, a “mistress dispeller” who is hired to maintain the bonds of marriage — and break up affairs — by any means necessary. Offering strikingly intimate access to private dramas usually hidden behind closed doors, Mistress Dispeller follows a real, unfolding case of infidelity, as Teacher Wang attempts to bring a couple back from the edge of crisis. Their story shifts our sympathies between husband, wife and mistress to explore the ways emotion, pragmatism, and cultural norms collide to shape romantic relationships in contemporary China.”

The first time I had visited China was in Shanghai back in 2002. When I was there, I remember reading in a local English language newspaper an article about that there were about one million Taiwanese businessmen in China and most of them had mistresses in China. My aunt had even mentioned to me that she had heard that Taiwanese wives had even forced their husbands to get vasectomies so they would not leave any potential heirs in the future. Or how even Taiwanese men having “Two lives and two wives for some Taiwanese.” So I was not too surprised to hear about such an industry of “mistress dispelling” exists. I have included the official theatrical release trailer by the distributers, Oscilloscope Laboratories.  Personally, I think that it reveals a bit too much. I like this trailer more from, when the film was being shown at film festivals: The film premiered theatrically in New York City last week and is starting to open up in cities across the U.S. As of this writing, with an overall Rotten Tomatoes score of 94% (based off of 34 reviews) as of this writing. You can find screenings at the distributors web page for the film. My Mistress Dispeller review and highlights from a discussion with the filmmaker Elizabeth Lo follow after the jump.

Review, Discussion, and Highlights

The documentary was amazing – I loved the film. As the above trailer noted, it was one of those films where you were asking yourself, “How did they make this film?” Filmmaker Elizabeth Lo explained how during the post-screening Q&A. As the film begins, we are first informed that:

• This documentary follows a real, unfolding case of “mistress dispelling.” Nothing was scripted or re-enacted.
• Everyone agreed to participate both at the beginning and end of production, as their understanding of the film and the mistress dispeller’s role evolved over time.

As The New York Times review explained it:

“In some ways, there’s really nothing surprising about “Mistress Dispeller” — the story it tells is as old as time. What’s remarkable is the mere fact that it exists. The opening text indicates that the subjects’ agreement to appear was sought both at the beginning and the end of production, as their understanding of the film and of Wang’s role in their relationships to one another evolved over time. That’s important to know from the start; otherwise, the question of who knows what, and when, would be too distracting throughout. But even so, it’s amazing that they agreed in the first place. Lo has spoken in interviews about the arduous, yearslong process of identifying first a mistress dispeller who would take part, and then clients who would be willing. She wanted to film each perspective in a crumbling love triangle. But initially, Mr. Li and Fei Fei thought they were participating in a film about modern love in China. Only after it was finished did each subject review the cut, and Lo said she was prepared to reframe the film entirely at that point if the subjects withdrew their consent. They didn’t.”

From what I recall, all the participants also agreed because the filmmaker promised not to release the film in China. I’m not sure this kind of documentary exposing this kind of industry would be approved to be released in China!</P We see Wang Zhenxi, the mistress dispeller, initially meeting with the wife who hired her She then infiltrates the family to meet her cheating husband and then eventually the mistress. You get to viscerally feel how the wife, the cheating husband, and mistress feel and empathize with at least the wife and mistress. Mistress Dismisser is very funny at times, making the audience roar in laughter . You also see how skilled Wang Zhenxi is at her job. She is expert at subterfuge as well as manipulating both the cheating husband and mistress to sow doubt about their relationship. Apparently the whole filming of this particular situation took over three to four months. The whole ride of seeing the mistress dispeller in action, working with the wife while manipulating the husband and mistress is fascinating and entertaining. I highly recommend the film.

More on mistress dispellers

After seeing the film, I became even more interested in this concept of a “mistress dispeller” and came across these articles, including Wang Zhenxi who was in the documentary and a very lengthy and detailed New Yorker article from 2017:

• SCMP: China ‘mistress counsellor’ restores broken marriages by persuading lovers to depart
• The New Yorker: China’s Mistress-Dispellers (6/19/17)

The New York Times also did a podcast interview with filmmaker Elizabeth Lo as part of their “Modern Love” series to explain more.