THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE
US, 2009, 77 minutes, Colour.
Sasha Grey, Chris Santos, Philip Eytan, Mark Jacobson.
Directed by Steven Soderbergh.
The film just stopped after 78 minutes and one was tempted to ask in the words of the classic song, 'Is that all there is?' That was all there was in terms of plot as well as characterisation which, one hoped, would be the main point of the film.
The girlfriend experience was not what I had imagined it was. This girlfriend experience, here, is a technical name for a $2000 an hour appointment with a high class Manhattan escort. It is not just a sexual encounter but, rather, the escort provides a sympathetic ear for the client's story, with conversation, a meal, a drink and a night.
The film was directed by Steven Soderbergh. There is the Soderbergh of the popular entertainments like the Ocean's capers. There is the Soderbergh of the up-market social commentary films like Traffic, Erin Brockovich and the Che films. Then there is the Soderbergh of small-budget, sometimes experimental films that may or may not find an audience. The Girlfriend Experience, despite its widescreen and generally glossy look is one of the films for the last category. It consists of glimpses over a few days of the life of the escort, Chelsea, and her clash with her actual boyfriend, Chris, a gym instructor.
We see Chelsea with various clients, mainly listening in to the conversations (the film is not particularly visually explicit at all). Chelsea then writes down the encounters for a book. Some of the clients are sympathetic. One is a nasty sex website manager. Another is a Jewish jeweller. She also meets an interviewer. Finally, there is a client with whom she thinks she can have a genuine relationship, which brings about a confrontation with Chris who has been invited by businessmen from the gym to go to Las Vegas for the weekend. And, that is what we are left with – to make of the glimpses what we will.
This is complicated by the fact that Chelsea is played by a student, Sasha Grey, who in her late teens decided that she wanted to work in the pornography industry in Los Angeles and became something of a celebrity in her field. She looks glamorous here but tends to perform in the impassive reaction style.
The film takes in some topical references to the time it was made - during the 2008 US election campaign with some pro-Obama statements and some Pro McCain? urges – and some anxious comments and complaints from the business clients of both Chelsea and the gym about the credit crunch and the bail-out of the banks. (It is 20 years since Soderbergh won the Palme d'Or inCannes for Sex,Lies and Videotape and thebeginning of his varied career of big-budget shows and offbeat experimental films like this one.)
1.The small budget? Soderbergh’s experimental work? The contrast with his high-budget films? The film as experimental?
2.The Manhattan settings, the use of the wide screen, the glossy style (except for the home photography of the group going to Las Vegas, on the plane)? The settings, streets, hotels, art galleries, the apartment, the country mansion? The art gallery? Authentic atmosphere for this glossy story? The range of the music, the street drummer?
3.The title of the film, the experience of Chelsea? The escort service? The prices? The clientele? Chelsea in control of her work? The meeting with the client, the meal, conversation, drinks, movie, the night? The price?
4.The structure of the film: the glimpses of Chelsea, her clients, her interactions with Chris? Chris and his work, interactions with clients, the trip to Las Vegas? The lack of chronological order? Glimpses? Dipping in and out of action?
5.Chelsea, her age, personality, impassive, the real character underneath the surface? Her work as an escort? Her façade in listening to conversations? Being the girlfriend? The initial client, the discussions, the meal, the drink, the night? His concern about lending money and it not being returned? Her concern about his lack of greeting? Her writing these details in her notebook? What she wore, what she ate? The intercutting with the discussions with the interviewer, some revelation of herself, her needs, her work? Her meeting with the webmaster, his exploitation, grossness, unfavourable review? Her meeting with Philip, seeming to have a connection? The invitation for the weekend? The limousine, her going, the phone call, cold, his calling off the weekend? Phone call to his children? Her hopes? The discussions with other clients? The Jewish jeweller? The background of the election, the credit crunch, advice about investment? Diamonds and gold?
6.Chris, his work at the gym, personal trainer? His clients, their business discussions? The election, the bailing out of the banks, Obama? The invitation to Las Vegas, wanting him to go? On the plane, the arrival, at the clubs? Chris and his personality? His acceptance of Chelsea’s work? Eighteen months together, the apartment and its furnishings? Their ease together? Her telling him about the weekend, his reaction, upset, the issue of breaking up?
7.The incidental characters, the art gallery and the painting, the waiters at restaurants?
8.The background of the credit crunch, the criticisms of Obama, the support of Obama? The Jewish jeweller and his voting for McCain? for the preservation of Israel?
9.The cumulative effect of this kind of glimpse of the work of the Manhattan escort?
