Ryan McNeil
The tagline on the poster for THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE gives the cheeky suggestion to “See it With Someone You Fuck”.
If I may offer my one word rebuttal: “Don’t”.
THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE stars Sasha Grey as Chelsea, a high class escort in New York City. She lives in an expensive apartment, wears expensive clothes, eats at expensive restaurants, and rides around in expensive cars. Such is the life for a girl who seems to be one of the very best prostitutes Manhattan has to offer.
Through a broken narrative, we learn about her relationship with Chris, her live-in boyfriend. Chris is a personal trainer trying to get ahead in an economy that is teetering on bringing him down (along with the entire white collar class). He has an understanding relationship with Chelsea, possibly because he’s too self-involved to actually care.
We watch, usually at arm’s reach, while Chelsea meets with clients. We watch Chelsea try to up her online profile. We even watch Chelsea struggle with actually caring about one of her Johns. If you like to watch, this might be the movie for you. If you like to be entertained however, you’re in for a disappointment.
You know that something has gone terribly wrong somewhere, when a seventy five minute movie feels long. This is helped in no small part by the fact that much of those seventy five minutes are spent watching rich people complain. They talk about the lousy economy, their dwindeling sales, their shrinking income, their increasing competition, their lack of professional growth…notice a trend yet?
Making it all the more sickening, is the fact that they voice these complaints in gourmet restaurants, private jets, and sprawling living spaces. Rather than soaking up what’s left of the good life, they seem hellbent on complaining to the captain that their champagne is flat while they watch the ship continue to sink.
Likewise, I am puzzled by the fact that a movie has been made about an escort starring a porn actress, and is about as sexy as a tax audit. Not to say that the film had to be explicit to be sexy, nor to say that a film with sex in the subtext must titilate. I just had a hard time with the fact that all these men who pay this woman hundreds and hundreds of dollars, seem more interested in using her as their shrink than their whore.
Through it all, perhaps even because of it all, Sasha Grey gives us nothing. She looks bored, has no inflection to her voice, and seldom says anything that has any weight. This is a woman just one month removed from a Rolling Stone profile that painted her as someone of intelligence. Not just another come-hither porn star, but a woman who is opinionated and reads philosophy for fun. If the article was true, I’d never know it from the performance she gave in this movie. I’ll spot points for the gamble of casting Grey, but if there was ever any debate why erotic talent can’t make the jump to being serious actors, THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE ought to end it. Fast.
Steven Soderbergh is one of my favorite directors, but his work is impossible to appreciate as a whole. Since his jump to the mainstream around the turn of the century, he has followed a rough pattern of doing one mainstream movie, followed by one indie. His smaller films always challenge. Sometimes they succeed (BUBBLE)…other times, not so much (FULL FRONTAL). While I will say that THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE is visually elegant, it’s not nearly elegant enough to make me reccomend the film.
Perhaps the whole darned thing was doomed when the title was chosen (Though admittedly, it refers to what Chelsea wants, more than what she offers). Whether a guy is rich or poor, girlfriends are a wonderful thing. They complete men, help them grow, challenge them, and entice. They are not – or certainly shouldn’t be – constant sounding boards to bitch about your day. Perhaps that’s why the poster suggested that audiences see this movie with someone they fuck. Once the films over, you can lean over, give that special someone a kiss, and say “See…at least I’m not as bad as THOSE people!”.
Or perhaps not. Skip it to be safe.
Bummer. I've been looking forward to this (especially since the risk he took with Che paid off so well), but it sounds like something to skip.
Movies often portray sex-workers, but their customers remain well hidden – faceless and nameless. "As a filmmaker, I simply wanted to reveal what is hidden – the john". So says Pietrobruno – the director of GFE: GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE. An entertaining peek into the world of prostitution from the client’s point of view, Pietrobruno’s GFE: GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE follows a man obsessed with prostitutes who discovers that love is a lot more expensive than sex.