The Girlfriend Experience

The Girlfriend Experience

After being unable to convince any of my friends to see Terminator Salvation with me, we settled upon Steven Soderbergh's latest The Girlfriend Experience. The movie opens with scenes from a young woman's seemingly glamorous life. Decked in fashionable designer garments while enjoying an evening about town with a wealthy older man, "Chelsea" leans against his arm and they head back home. We see them snuggling and kissing on the couch in a moment of apparent intimacy before a scene from the morning after. Only later, when we see her counting her cash on the car ride home do we see the true nature of her $2000 an hour job. In fact, she operates in a niche market, where she specializes in providing more than mere physical services, she offers companionship, and the appearance of a real relationship.

A disjointed collection of moments from the life of a high end New York escort set shortly before the 2008 US Presidential Elections, The Girlfriend Experience succeeds more in capturing a moment in time than in truly exploring the complicated nature of affection and intimacy between individuals. The audience looks on as Christine (Sasha Grey), who uses the alias of Chelsea in her work, moves from client to client, documenting every last detail, from her chosen wardrobe for each evening, to each film watched, to every act performed with her clients. We see her meeting with others to strategize about maintaining competitiveness in the business. For instance, she is shown meeting with a technology consultant to improve her internet branding.

In stark contrast to her business aspirations, we see interspersed scenes showing Christine with her boyfriend Chris, a personal trainer who is also attempting to expand his business despite the growing economic concerns of the times. The real juice of the story supposedly arrives when Christine, after an initial meeting with a new client, actually begins to feel something for the other person, complicating her relationship with her "real boyfriend."

What I would have liked to see would have been a deep exploration of what it means to feel for and love another person, and what the meaning of intimacy really is. The film touches on this subject ever so slightly when the boyfriend tells Christine that their lives together lie in the real world, while her rendevouz with clients were fake. But is that really so? For instance, although Christine steps into another persona for her work and fakes intimacy with her clients, if her clients feel a real sense of intimacy with her, does the fact that she's faking negate her clients' real feelings? Unfortunately, this film does little to really explore or expose human emotion. Rather, it is content to display the outward signs of wealth of the gilded elites and their lifestyles.

It's also very hard to connect with Ms. Grey's character as she seems perpetually stone cold and without emotion, even when it seems that she ought to feel something. It's hard to say whether this was the intention of the director, or the fault of the actress, but this aspect of the film, coupled with its disjoint organization and near complete lack of a soundtrack created an atmosphere more reminiscent of an extended amateur work than a feature film. Nonetheless, the movie does successfully capture a snapshot of October 2008, complete with references to credit market crises, investments in gold, and unease about the election, which may one day serve as a lesson in history.

Available in limited release now, and via Amazon onDemand.