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Review

Ghosted an ethereal lesbian love story set in Taiwan and Germany, cleverly utilizes flashbacks to bridge the ocean between between Eastern and Western cultural beliefs.

In Tawain, ghosts are rarely a laughing matter; in this ancestor-worship culture where the memories of the living nurture the deceased, there is a belief that the dead, become ghosts roaming between heaven and earth. In Ghosted -- an unconventional, meditative love story directed by veteran German filmmaker Monika Treut -- we are introduced to Sophie (Ingra Busch), a 40-something renowned German video artist who has returned to Taipei to open an exhibition dedicated to her late Taiwanese lover Ai-Ling (Huan-Re Ke). There she meets Mei-Lie (Ting Ting Hu), a pushy and beautiful journalist who eerily reminds her of Ai-Ling. Mei-Li's constant questions and flirtatious overtures are too much too soon and Sophie retreats to Hamburg.

When the journalist mysteriously turns up on her doorstop, Sophie decides to open herself to new sexual adventures. Her new-found trust is soon shattered when she discovers that Mei-Li isn't who she claims to be. Suspensful and complex, this cross-border narrative is a rich addition to Treut's growing body of work.

 -- Carol Coombes