Special Features
What is the Value of a True Girlfriend Experience?
By Greg Kaczynski |
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 Steven Soderbergh’s newest film, The Girlfriend Experience, is a fascinating look into the state of relationships in our modern American society. Taking place in the weeks leading up to the 2008 election, Soderbergh follows the love life of Chelsea/Christine (played with incredible honesty by porn film star, Sasha Grey), a high-class escort who claims to offer something better than just a regular hooker. She offers the “girlfriend experience,” the full deal, the ultimate in fake relationships (including sex, if so desired). The client pays, and in the morning, she goes on her way.
Chelsea also has a boyfriend, Chris (real-life personal trainer, Chris Santos), who is okay with her lifestyle. They have an agreement, an open relationship, and everything is running smooth enough until Chelsea meets a client whose birthday fulfills a specific numerological curriculum of hers. The client asks her away for the weekend, which is a big no-no for her and Chris’ arrangement, but Chelsea feels a need to see it through.
All the while, there is a journalist (Mark Jacobson, an actual interviewer for several magazines) who is inquiring about her life and experiences, providing intriguing insight that would otherwise be absent.
 The Girlfriend Experience is poignant, calling out the loss of humanity we, as a society, have been suffering in recent times. With speed dating, online dating and the propagation of free porn, “love” in our modern society has become a series of transactions. It’s become an issue of “I want” and “you provide,” and Chelsea is the ultimate business woman of love.
A professional in all things, she is rarely moved by emotion. When things get dicey with the man she supposedly loves, she’s got nothing but snake eyes: cold, calculating, taking in every angle of the situation as a logical series of obstacles to be negotiated through. The journalist asks her tough, personal questions, but she remains calm and often refuses to answer questions that resonate too emotionally deep. It’s recommended that she meets up with an “erotic connoisseur” (played with appropriate grossness by Glenn Kenny), and she’ll do whatever she needs to get the slightest advantage in her business.
Soderbergh presents to us, perhaps, the filthy apex of capitalism. We are a society constantly on the go--no time for love, to develop real relationships--and Chelsea is the best woman to capitalize on this. She is the consummate American. Soderbergh seems to be using the metaphor of love, something we can all relate to, to highlight how out of control our consumerism has gotten, how soulless our society can be--even here, when it comes down to the most basic of needs, everyone and everything has a price.
 Chelsea keeps meticulous notes on the brands and kinds of clothes she wears on dates; her boyfriend hangs out with a group of men talking about the current financial crisis; the “erotic connoisseur” has very clear motives--each personal interaction has a material value of some sort hung on it, but at the same time, The Girlfriend Experience is ultimately a story of love and emotion at its core. It’s clear that Soderbergh is saying there’s a connection here, an inhuman marriage of commerce and emotion, and it should make viewers uncomfortable.
The narrative flows and the acting is solid throughout. The movie runs a little short (78 minutes), which initially feels like a shame because Soderbergh pulls the usual art film ending and doesn’t quite give audiences everything we expect. However, in the days since seeing it, what at first felt like an unsatisfying ending now seems more clear. Soderbergh gives viewers the clues as to how things are ultimately going to end, but he stops short of spoon-feeding his audience, explicitly spelling out the conclusion. The initial pangs of frustration have been replaced with a lasting impression, something to chew on--a trick most filmmakers in Hollywood have seemed to have unfortunately forgotten.
Soderbergh’s art film roots are proudly on display here outside of the movie’s ending. Each scene is meticulously placed and lit, many of the long shots looking more like paintings in motion than a series of filmed frames. Many of the scenes are shot from a distance; audiences are put in the place of the eavesdropping stranger, an excellent choice to sustain and reinforce the reality of the performances. Even the more traditional over-the-shoulder conversational scenes are limited in their edits, maintaining a slow, steady pace. All of these choices create an appropriate feeling of intimacy and warmth in what is largely a cold story.
 There are times, however, when Soderbergh goes a bit too deep into his art film roots. Inexplicably poppy music plays over a group of men walking through Vegas and gambling; while the men are on their trip there, the film is overexposed and blurry. It’s obvious he’s trying to make some kind of statement in these sequences, but at times, The Girlfriend Experience slips into the elusive irony of Steven Soderbergh and the audience can’t help but feel a little alienated.
Those moments, however, are few. For the most part, The Girlfriend Experience is a film that challenges viewers to consider our current existence, our values and our motives, especially now while our financial system melts down around us. Soderbergh asks us what is worth our honest time and attention; what is anything, even that most elusive, valuable emotion, worth when it all comes down?
The Girlfriend Experience is now playing in limited release and on HDNet Ultra VOD.
For more information, visit the film’s official Web site.
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