Polygamy, Ghosts and Grief Collide in ‘Marlina’ Director Mouly Surya’s Busan Asian Project Market Drama ‘The Wife Who Can See Dead People (Or Jinn)’

A young bride who sees ghosts joins a polygamous Muslim household and forms a bond with one of her husband’s other wives in “The Wife Who Can See Dead People (Or Jinn),” the new project from Indonesian director Mouly Surya (“Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts”).

The project is part of the Asian Project Market, which runs within the Busan International Film Festival’s Asian Contents & Film Market (ACFM).

Gadis, 20, has just been brought home as the fourth wife of 50-year-old Abi. When she confides that ghosts appear to her, he tells her the dead cannot become ghosts in Islam, only jinn, spirits able to take many shapes, including those of people who have died. Of the three earlier wives and their kids, Gadis is drawn to Indah, the third wife, 35, and her seven-year-old son Firman. Indah teaches her how to run the house and even what to do in the marital bed, and Gadis looks after Firman, the one person who takes her ghost stories seriously. With Abi away overseas, Firman disappears, and Gadis and a motley band of ghosts help Indah look for him. When the boy’s body turns up by a river, the wives’ sisterhood is split between doing what feels right and following their husband’s wishes and Islamic tradition.

Surya says the subject is personal. Members of her immediate family have multiple wives, and a close friend claims to see ghosts. “These are stories that are very close to me personally but one I always have questions for,” she says.

The film sits on a set of contradictions, Surya says. Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world without being an Islamic state, and while its people believe in ghosts, the Quran has no such concept. Scripture permits men to take several wives, but Indonesian law does not recognize those unions. Watching polygamous families, Surya says, stirs pity, judgment and empathy in her, as well as fascination with the camaraderie, rivalry and sisterhood between the women. “There is a unique, somewhat bittersweet love between them, in a young woman yet to find her own footing such as Gadis or one with broken dreams like Indah,” she says.

The project is mid-development, with a first draft of the screenplay complete, and is now in financing as the team applies for funds and co-production partners.

Producers Gita Fara and Rama Adi say that since “Marlina,” they have pushed the craft of their storytelling and production further. This time they are after something more intimate and grown-up, closer to their earlier work, while keeping Surya’s visceral style: a grounded, moving drama laced with strange moments that can be thrilling, funny and haunting.

They also point to the husband at the story’s center, a man who works hard to provide for and protect his family while attempting the impossible task of treating every wife fairly and equally. “Without trying to justify, we want to show polygamy beyond prejudices and visualize how they live with each other, facing tragedy, challenges, and things that are a little out of ordinary,” they say.

In Busan, the producers want to meet potential co-production and sales partners and take the film’s first step onto the international stage. Fara is also at this year’s APM as a producer on Reza Rahadian’s “Casparina.”