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Whatever you think of Steven Soderbergh, you have to respect the director’s pathological experimentation. One could arrange his films in three broad camps: 1) the big budget Hollywood vehicle ala the Oceans 11 franchise, 2) medium budget indie-type films like Traffic or The Good German, and 3) low budget experiments like Full Frontal or Bubble. Soderbergh’s most recent release, The Girlfriend Experience, is decidedly in the latter category, having been shot on video in only a few weeks using mostly non-professional actors. The movie was filmed in New York towards the end of the 2008 presidential election at the height of the financial collapse. These real-life events are woven into the storyline as the film explores the transactions of a high-dollar escort prowling through the posh lofts, restaurants, and boutiques of Manhattan.
In a move of clever casting, the escort, Chelsea, is played by adult film actress, Sasha Grey (it's hard to say if that makes her a professional or non-professional actor.) Miss Gray is apparently famous in equal measures for her honest, unflinching eloquence regarding her porn career and her enthusiastic willingness to perform almost any act in that profession. That she is a slightly baby-faced 21 year-old makes both of those traits somewhat unnerving, and I'm sure Soderbergh hoped this tension would find its way onto the screen. It should be said, however, that there is not a great deal of sex in this film and only a few fleeting moments of partial nudity. The film focuses not on the sexual aspect of prostitution, but instead the commerce. In fact, The Girlfriend Experience is primarily obsessed with transactions, negotiations, and exchanges.
As Chelsea moves from one wealthy client to the next, many offer advice about how she should invest her money amidst the financial crisis. "Traditional" commerce only serves as the film's underpainting, however. What this film really enjoys exploring is the commodification of the very humanity of the characters. The title of the film refers to an acronym, "gfe," used in the parlance of escort services. A "girlfriend experience" is a term that advertises a more personal, intimate experience beyond simply sex. In a sense, Chelsea tries to act as a modern day Geisha, seeking to project herself as a cultured, well-bred woman who is as emotionally engaging as she is sexually desirable. However, she is very much a western, capitalist Geisha paying great attention to the brands of her lingerie and hiring multiple trade consultants to help her grow her business. Despite her occupation, Chelsea is in a committed relationship with her personal trainer boyfriend, Chris (Chris Santos), and the film takes great pains to draw parallels between the two professions. Of course, each job focuses on the physical body, but they also blur the lines between friendship and client resulting in awkward negotiations between the characters' personal and professional lives.
"Ruthlessness is so pervasive within these characters' lives that it is never experienced as abnormal much less painful."
It is these fissures between that client/friend dynamic that The Girlfriend Experience explores in scene after scene. The film exists mostly of one-on-one conversations between characters, often shot from a distant wide or medium angle. Of course, this distance is very intentional as the film suggests that emotion itself has become just another commodity in a market-obsessed culture. Most of the characters, both clients and servicers, seem to see themselves as products hoping for better marketing plans, re-branding schemes, and retail positioning. The election that occurs in the film's background illustrates just how much we have accepted political campaigns as marketing strategies, with one character mentioning how tired he is of hearing the word "maverick" to describe John McCain (it is interesting to note that the screenwriters chose not to pick on Obama's supercharged advertising techniques as well.) In fact, true and genuine emotion is nothing more than a liability to these characters when emotional manipulation is their very trade. It is only when Chelsea is conned by a character that we see her break down for a split second, and we wonder if she is upset by the betrayal itself or the realization that she actually has emotions to be disturbed. After all, ruthlessness is so pervasive within these characters' lives that it is never experienced as abnormal much less painful. Whether this exploration of cold detachment makes for great filmmaking is debatable.
At only a 77 minute run time, Soderbergh seems to recognize that most audiences probably don't want to spend a great deal of time with these characters. If you're looking for an evening of elaborate storytelling, this is probably not your film. However, if you're looking for a cerebral film whose intentional lack of emotional warmth is transplanted with an exciting cultural immediacy, you should arrange a discreet date with The Girlfriend Experience.
