Lou Ye’s last movie “Mystery” （《浮城谜事 》F%ch9ng M！sh#）， is an existential noir based on a true story of a love triangle （in Chinese “the third”， 第三者 d#s`nzh0）. Things get more complicated， however， when both women meet each other and discover that their children share a father！ After a third woman is added into the mix， the sharp corners of this love triangle turn into a complex blur of passions， anger and obsession. In the end， it leads to tragedy. Shot in Wuhan， “Mystery” is the first of Lou Ye’s movies to be produced and released in China， as his films had been banned for years. During that time， Lou found fame and support abroad， especially in France. “Mystery” was also censored； however， Lou Ye posted his negotiations with officials on Weibo regarding the removal of a few scenes involving violence and eroticism. In the end， only a few seconds of a violent scene depicting murder were simply darkened without being cut. Out of all of the “Second Wave” （第二浪潮 D#-èr L3ngch1o） of independent directors emerging in the early 2000’s and of those belonging to the so-called“Sixth Generation” （第六代导演d#-li& d3i d2oy2n）， Lou presents the most striking and distinctive visual style. Prefering to use hand-held cameras and long unbridled cuts， Lou that captures the intimacy and strangeness of his actors， their surroundings and their emotions； Close-ups of facial expressions， constantly in search of human emotion， and framing that strives to merge with the extra diegetic space are all part of Lou’s unique style. In many ways， Lou is a descendant of Hong Kong action movies and European art-house cinema， influenced by directors such as the Dardenne Brothers and Lars Von Trier. In “Mystery”， this kind of visual approach is even richer： Lou composes every shot carefully to give expressive power to this story of betrayal and secrets that connect the three protagonists. The love triangle in “Mystery”revolves around the male lead， Yong Zhao. He leads the perfect， upper middle-class lifestyle with his wife， Lu Jie， and their daughter An’an. When Lu Jie is invited out by Sang Qi for a chat， Sang Qi shares her suspicions with Lu Jie about her cheating husband： Lu Jie： Not necessarily. A lot of hotels have cafés or meeting rooms. Maybe they went there for a meeting. Did you talk with him？ Maybe it’s a misunderstanding. Zh-ge， q！sh！ b&y！d#ng de， n@ xi2ng y#b`n de ji^di3n d4uy6u k`f8ib`、hu#y#sh# sh9nme de. M9izh^nr， k0n9ng sh# q& t1n sh#r ne. N@ g8n t` shu4le ma？ Zh- y0x^ sh#ge w&hu#. Detective： Do you know this girl？ Zh-ge n）h1i n@ r-nshi ma？这个女孩你认识吗？ Yong Zhao： This is the list of the people I met after I left her that day. They can testify for me. 　　more than ever—alone. Unable to cope， Lu Jie can only manifest her grief by leaving Yongzhao， and taking their daughter with her. In the meantime， detectives begin to suspect that the death of the young girl wasn’t a simple car accident. They slowly dig up the truth that leads them back to the love triangle. At the end， a caption tells us how the police uncovered the mystery and discovered the identity of the young girl’s murderer. However，
　　the original ending of the film， as conceived by Lou Ye， leaves the
　　truth out of the frame， with Lu Jie alone and wrongly accused， and the “mystery” of human passions spiralling onward into further
　　unknown territory.
　　-edoardo gagliardi"Mystery" is not the first movie that features Qin Hao， the young actor from Shangdong. Qin and Lou had already worked together in Spring Fever （2009）， and it seems that Qin Hao will partake in Lou’s next work， announced for next year. Qin Hao has also worked with other important directors， such as Wang Xiaoshuai， an icon of the Sixth Generation， and with the revered Zhang Yimou in his recent war-epic "13 Flowers".