Alex (Jacqueline Peng) is assigned the job of teaching English to businessman Henry's (Ray Lui - To Be Number One) Mainland mistress Michelle (Vicky Chen). A ditsy woman, Michelle immerses Alex into her world, including shopping, sleazy nightclubs and by opening this door, she gets Alex's emotions stirred by Henry...

Placing us into bizarro world from the opening frames as we're in a dreamy lit forest only to be lead into a stressful urban setting, Crystal Kwok has already jolted the senses of the viewer in an intriguing way. Soon setting up the triangle where there's drama to be had but also breezy comedy and quirky visuals, much is tricky in Kwok's frame in a very welcome way as she explores tangents that we think are going to be predominant but they are only stepping stones for the upcoming main character ingredient.

You would think the subject matter of the role and game of being a mistress coupled with the Category III rating that the film would structure itself like an explicit bonk-a-thon. Oh there's sex to be had but not much nudity comes with Kwok's package and all the "smut" is dressed in in some kind of class but more importantly it's all critical for the journey of Jacqueline Peng's character. She if anything is the tricky character as we're not quite sure if she's a simple, introvert daydreamer, a manipulator or a frail mind that takes refuge in unobtainable dreams and an unobtainable reality. Does she sink willingly or unwillingly into the sleazy, perverse world that is almost part of daily life for these people? It's a minor surprise to see what Kwok has in store for Alex but what can be said about her journey is that Kwok balances arthouse sensibilities with an atmospheric, low-key narrative for the viewer to entangle.

Sure the content is attention grabbing in itself but Kwok understands her matters well and her audience so she'll know certain guys will sit through titillation AND subtle character depth. That depth is best displayed through Alex's visualized concrete and abstract subconscious. A dangerous venture towards pretentiousness, Kwok strikes the balance admirably well as she's using various mediums across the fading in and out of reality for Alex, never missing her beats dealing with where the mind is at now. A maturity is on display, not a rookie filmmaker trying to shock a film community by being all over the place visually.

Cast-wise, Kwok has seemingly gathered some American or Canadian-Chinese unknown actors, hoping that unfamiliarity will make The Mistress an immersing work. Largely, it's a successful venture, starting with lead Jacqueline Peng who has quite a challenge as the character is defined anew all throughout. For all the rough acting that goes on, particularly the English language delivery, Kwok directs Peng with an assurance how to create a workable act and the impact of the film is very much due to Peng's presence. Vicky Chen seems to be a prime candidate for another Shu Qi at her more annoying best but I like how Kwok sticks with the grating act only to reward us in the latter, telling and critical aspects of the film. Veteran Ray Lui certainly has no flattering role at all, despite Henry never displaying signs of external evil. He's a player, demanding the female participants to play the game which of course makes him an asshole overall but Lui taps nicely into the charm Henry possesses. The charm that gets players into the game. Acclaimed director (2*) and co-producer Lawrence Lau appears in a supporting role.

Few female Hong Kong directors are on the map and Crystal Kwok has not as of yet followed up her fine debut here. It would be a shame if she didn't because The Mistress shows a busy work that fades in and out of its moods along with the viewer in a compelling way. For sure not totally uplifting but there's a playful aura to Kwok's frame as well as a mature nature where rough acting kind of is acceptable. It makes an impact and sure as hell counts as valid, explicit cinema.

(1) The award winning trio of films consisting of Made In Hong Kong, The Longest Summer and Little Cheung. The defining works of Fruit Chan.

(2) Filmography includes Gangs, Spacked Out and Gimme Gimme.

If the story is not very original, the force of Crystal Kwok is that she has found a style and a refreshing tone. Indeed Crystal Kwok multiplies the processes without make a disordered production using lots of effects, so current in Hong Kong. Each process is used to illustrate a precise time. Thus the camera is more mobile when the young women do shopping, colored filters are used to show the phantasms of Alex, the film becomes oneiric when the female mentality is illustrated by a woman wandering in a misty forest, the plans become slower in the moments of sadness. The musical choices are also extremely varied, from jazz to the cantonese pop, through classical music. This variety of styles does not prevent the film from preserving its coherence, it is even possible to create effects of surprise, which maintains the interest of the spectator.Moreover the film goes from laughter to tears, from lightness to gravity, from decency to vulgarity. Thanks to this freedom, the movie is very strong.

These qualities go with an original purpose for a film of Hong Kong, which also stay competitive with the European productions, whose love affair is one of the subjects of predilection. Entirely directed according to the female point of view, Crystal Kwok avoids the moralist approach to depict intriguing, exciting, but such an unsatisfactory experiment. Preserving this ambivalence, Crystal avoids any simplification. If the men are mediocre, the boy friend of Alex are spineless and Henry is only an egoist, the women therefore are not shown like victims persecuted by the men. Crystal insists on the importance of imaginary in love for the woman, imaginary that quickly make her forget reality. Prisoner of a love feeling, Alex, refusing the role which is assigned her by Henry, would lose the control of the situation and would find the outdoor only in the hate.

Two very beautiful sequences show very well this tragic dimension of the woman. The first is during an exposure of modern paintings. It is the first meeting between Alex and Henry, a simple friendly goingout at this time of film. During this varnishing, Alex seems to not understand the contemporary art, the camera stopping on an abstract painting. This scene, which could seem not to be that a simple scene of first meeting with a criticism of the contemporary art, changes to another dimension at the end of film. The painting is then presented like a metaphor of love. The incomprehension of Alex was not alleviating, it announced already her failure, her incapacity to understand that she would be beyond by her love story. The sanction is terrible coz Henry would leave her without regret and she would have to overcome her disappointment. The second sequence is certainly the final song which one can see the three women of Henry (his two mistresses and his wife) singing a sentimental bluette. Beautiful metaphor to indicate this need that has the woman to nourish herself with a representation of the love based on a naive romanticism, a idealized love. Is it necessary to consider a cynical behavior, without any feeling ? Some women surely would make this choice. Most of them remain captive of this way of conceiving the love. It is in any case what thinks Crystal Kwok.