Mouly Surya’s New Film Project Follows a Bride in a Polygamous Household

Indonesian director Mouly Surya is developing a film called “The Wife Who Can See Dead People (Or Jinn).”

It follows Gadis, a 20-year-old who becomes the fourth wife of a 50-year-old man and says she sees spirits.

She grows close to Indah, one of his other wives, and Indah’s young son, Firman.

When Firman disappears while his father is overseas, Gadis and a group of ghosts help Indah search for him.

The story draws on questions of faith, family and polygamy in Indonesia, where the law does not recognize polygamous marriages.

Surya says the subject is personal, and the film aims to show the women’s relationships without simply judging or defending polygamy.

The project has a completed first screenplay draft and is seeking financing and co-production partners at a film market in Busan.