There’s one thing that’s common to both great and bad films. Never try to guess what the director is trying to tell you. As in the case of today’s thriller, the main attraction is the female protagonist who strips over and over again. Is it a masterpiece, or is it just a bad movie? Let’s have a taste – The White Orchid

White orchid, the language of the flower is pure love, sincere. The goddess Cecilia Cheung once acted in a film called “White Orchid”, in which she played a character who was also strong and beautiful, and was to be pitied. But today’s “Bailan” is a dangerous one. It’s a code name and a mysterious murder. The case takes place on an island in the Bay Area. Three months ago, a mysterious woman named Juliette rented the most exclusive villa in the area. She doesn’t get along with her neighbours much and has a rather chaotic private life. She has one-night stands, she has sex with both men and women, she drinks and does drugs, and so on. Her villa is also full of wigs, perfumes and erotic products. Despite her love life, this woman has a very good reputation among her neighbours. She often volunteers at the food bank and delivers warmth to the elderly in the neighbourhood.

But suddenly, one day, Juliette disappears. And on a nearby beach, the police found the headless body of a woman who had been disfigured. Through DNA comparison, the headless woman’s body is none other than Juliette. To follow our common logic, it would have been a love crime. But the strange thing is that Juliette was only the name that the mystery woman used temporarily. All her identification information, including her driver’s licence and social security card, was false. Even the police didn’t know what she looked like because the body was so unidentifiable.

In order to investigate the “White Orchid murder”, the policewoman found a freelance investigator. Today’s heroine is Claire.
Remember what she looks like now, because next time she may not even recognise her own mother. However, the other male cop doesn’t want Claire to take over. The police have been investigating for three whole months and have not been able to figure out the true identity of the headless woman’s body. Could she, a minor investigator, find out? He deliberately flashed the photos of the crime scene, trying to get Claire to back off.

The photos were so gruesome that even the police couldn’t sleep through the night looking at them. Claire, however, insisted on taking over the case. The male policeman agrees and will only allow her to find out the true identity of the victim. And so, Claire enters the fancy villa. The villa is stuffed with luxury items, designer clothes, perfumes and wigs of all kinds. Claire, who is also a woman, could not resist such temptations. On her first day, Claire could not resist applying the lipstick Juliette had left on her lips. Although the next moment, she scrambled to wipe off the lipstick. But when she got home, she could not resist describing to her friends how luxurious the villa was and how expensive the items were. So much so that when they went shopping at the supermarket, Claire couldn’t help but buy a lipstick too. Claire, originally a reserved, introverted and sensible girl next door, is a very good girl. This is evident from the way she dresses at the beginning of the film. However, since entering the villa, it is like she opens the door to her inner desires and becomes more and more uncontrollable. She starts wearing Juliet’s clothes, using her perfume and even changing into the sexy lingerie she left behind.

Gradually, the audience can no longer tell whether she has become Juliette. Or does she just want to find the truth and truly experience the life of a victim. The new, refreshed Claire naturally draws the attention of those around her. The male officers’ comments to her changed from “You’re a nice girl” to “You’re so beautiful today”. Even the neighbours around her mistook her for Juliet. The investigator investigates the case, initially invested in his own ego, but not expecting to become the other side. Such a story may seem absurd. In fact, it is the main idea that the film is trying to convey, that the environment comes with a powerful endowment and ability to transform people. The cars and the BMWs, the mansions and the fancy dresses are enough to change a person’s mind and to inspire deepest desires and darkness.

For Clare, it was more than that. In the course of her investigation at the villa, she also found a large amount of cash and a gun. Perhaps wanting to investigate on her own, she did not hand it over to the police but buried it in a neighbour’s backyard. Claire, now, becomes increasingly interested in Juliette, the mysterious woman. So much so that later in the film there is a strange drawing- When she sees a back similar to Juliet’s, Claire actually gets a sexual urge. When night comes, she looks at the only picture Juliette has left behind. Dressed in her clothes, she lies in her bed and does certain indescribable things. However, Claire cannot stay in the villa forever, living in someone else’s world. She discovers that someone is always following her, trying to pry open the villa’s door. And, this mysterious person in the shadows knew her identity all along.

At the same time, someone in the know took pictures of her inside the villa, wearing erotic lingerie. The blurred photos were uploaded to the internet and became known as “The Ghost of Bran”. Add to this the later appearance of a woman who had a one-night stand with Claire. The plastic surgeon who was linked to the case but suddenly murdered. It all smacks of the unusual. Claire discovers that there is much more to Juliette’s death than meets the eye. The story that follows is still very high energy. But it needs to be explored by yourselves to be most interesting. What’s great about this thriller is that it keeps the mystery of “Bran” wrapped up tightly. The mystery is then unravelled through the female protagonist, Claire, layer by layer. Many people don’t get the point, so they focus on the dress-up show of the female lead. In fact, back to the title of the film. In the director’s eyes, “Bran” is not just a code name.

It is the key thread that runs through the film, representing money, fame, lust, temptation and sex. And the heroine, who is attracted to these vain things, is the next Bran! The whole film has a slightly creepy atmosphere, but it is still full of literature. Mysterious, seductive and alluring. What it really wants to say is the same, everyone changes so it’s impossible to define, and so are you. Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because you’ve experienced it.