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Movie: The Girlfriend Experience

By: Chris Roberts

Not being as up on the porn world as I might like the name Sasha Grey meant nothing to me. Yet her she is "going straight," in the new Soderbergh film no less, not doing half bad, although it should be noted that her character is a high-end prostitute so she is essentially playing herself. The movie, like Full Frontal and Bubble before it, fit into the genre that can best be described as Soderbergh's mumblecore. People small talk and act naturally and if you look close enough you can find a story being told. Here we find Chelsea (Grey) and her boyfriend Chris (Chris Santos) as they engage in our national past time: Fighting their way up the economic ladder. This being October 08 times are tough, even for the rich, and make no mistake, this couple qualifies. What with their plush 30th Street apartment, trips to Vegas, and Soho shopping sprees. The film takes an ultra realistic approach and gives us a front row seat as they navigate their way through the business world. She tries to buy her way onto more search engines, he tries to talk his way into management at the gym he works at. The deeper she digs the murkier her world becomes. In one especially sleazy scene a wannabe pimp/online sex critic (played, in a bit of delicious stunt casting by former Premiere film critic Glenn Kelly) offers her the chance of becoming a star for the low, low price of one sexual encounter. There is an overriding theme of how our human nature forces us to ignore what we have so that we can continue our quest for more. Wealth is, obviously, relative... and while I could say that of course I could live comfortable off of Chelsea's salary that doesn't mean that if I were in her shoes I would just call off the hunt for more more more.

The Girlfriend Experience grew on me slowly to the point that when the film ended I was firmly in it's corner. It won me over in little ways...rich dudes taking bets on the upcoming election, Jim Rome impersonations, a jumbled chronology that had no intention of showing off. It also had a way of cutting close to my bone and really speaking to me. My own foray into an open relationship was really rather disastrous, so I was intrigued to watch the dynamic between Chelsea and Chris. Early on it seemed as though it was comprised of nothing more than chitchat over take out and a photo of them that they used as their wall paper. But then, inevitably (?), things got a little too real. Sex leads to emotions and openness leads to jealousy. Near the end they engage in a nasty fight that was uncomfortably real for me... boy have I been there. In the process the lifestyle that is selling sex for money is held up for examination. Why is it so sought after? Do people
really desire to provide society with nothing more than a pretty face and tight body? Grey does a perfectly adequate job playing Chelsea, who, it seems wants to stay above it all and fancy herself a businesswoman while ignoring the all important validation that comes along with that line of work.

Soderbergh really does overload this film with ideas but one that stood out for me was his critique on our culture of criticism. Yes, everyone is a critic, especially today in the age of the internet. And I agree that it is high time that we all stop pretending that the critics are above criticism. Any time, they put themselves out there, be it on a blog or in a newspaper, they are just as much fair game as the filmmakers/escorts/politicians who they malign from behind a keyboard. When Kelly's character doesn't get what he wants out of Chelsea he turns to his website to lay into her with a nasty rant about her uselessness... hurting her in the process... and neglecting to tell his readers about the ugly little side deal he was trying to work out for himself. All that said, this film is no masterpiece, but for a snapshot in time and a glimpse of New Yorkers trying to survive the great financial crisis of 2008 it is hard to go wrong with this film.