Mystery

     A car races down a highway as it pours sheets of rain outside. The driver is a young man and the woman in the passenger’s seat is just as beautiful as he is drunk. As they exit a tunnel mid-kiss, a woman in a bloody shirt appears in the middle on the road. Unable to react in time, he crashes into her, and she slowly dies on the pavement. Unfortunately, this whirlwind scene of promiscuity gone wrong is the peak of Lou Ye’s film, Mystery. 

Mystery is Ye’s second film after a Chinese government mandated five year ban on filmmaking, While Mystery isn’t short on Ye’s customary controversial content is it short on any inventive storytelling. 

Adultery, lies, sex, and murder riddle Ye’s film about Lu Jie's (Lei Hao) discovery of her husband’s (Qin Hao) numerous affairs, but as the plot predictably unfolds Ye’s “thriller” failed to ever thrill me. In addition, amateur looking cinematography and backwards characters hinder Mystery from being the twisted mind-bender Ye intended. 

Immediately after the opening death scene, we go back several days where Ye presents us with another car scene. This time, Lu Jie is in the driver’s seat with her young daughter in the back. She lives an ordinary life: caring for her daughter by day and tending to her husband, Yongzhao, at night. 

Her seemingly routine life comes crashing down when she sees Yongzhao enter a hotel with a young woman, Xiaomin (Chang Fangyuan). We then learn that Xiaomin is the same woman who was slain at the beginning of the film. The rest of the film follows Lu Jie as she attempts to uncover and exploit her husband in his many indiscretions.  

The camera takes on a documentary feel as Lu Jie stalks her husband. Ye uses agitated zooms, pans, tilts and rack focuses to make the camera seem like an additional investigative character, however; this approach is far too stylized for an affair story. While it somewhat works as Lu Jie stands behinds trees and peers around corners, the obvious camera movement continues even in dialogue heavy scenes. It seems like Ye’s failed attempt to create suspense out of a lackluster screenplay. Ye’s going for Bourne, but he comes off as a student fresh out of film school who wants to show you all his new camera tricks. 

The lacking cinematography drags the film down further in a sex tape between Yongzhao and his young mistress. Home video image quality, extreme close ups and blurry footage only add to the film’s amateurish characteristics. It looks like the trailer to a badly made porno rather than a brief insight into one of Yongzhao’s steamy affairs. 

More than anything, I despised the film’s female characters. Eventually, we find that Lu Jie's friend Sang Qi (Qi Xi) is yet another one of Yongzhao’s mistresses. Second wife is probably a better description as Yongzhao and Sang Qi share not only an apartment but a young son together.

Once Sang Qi reveals her true identity to Lu Jie, the two compete for Yongzhao. They actually vie for the love of a man who cheated and lied to them for years. This plot progression is as off putting as is it unrealistic. 

Over the course of the film, Lu Jie discovers that not only is her husband having an affair with three different woman, but that he has an entire second family with one of them. Despite all this, she initially tries to win her husband back through spontaneous sex and schemes to destroy his and Sang Qi’s relationship. While Lu Jie’s revenge plan is fun to watch at times, her initial plan to forgive and forget  Yongzhao’s actions makes her a difficult protagonist to root for. 

Sang Qi’s devotion is even more offensive as she endures Yongzhao’s physical and sexual abuse. Most of Yongzhao and Sang Qi’s screen time consists of him yelling, beating, or raping her. In one scene, Sang Qi talks of how her only desire is to be with Yongzhao. His character has no redeeming qualities, yet Sang Qi pathetically clings to him no matter how awful the abuse. Although Sang Qi plays this submissive role well, the message her character conveys is alarmingly reactionary for Ye. 

The film’s attempt at a final plot twist is dissatisfying and obvious. Thanks to a poorly developed subplot of the investigation into Xiaomin’s death, Ye practically gives away his surprise ending half way through the film. Sadly the only “mystery” is how such an unimaginative film could come from such an esteemed director like Ye.