Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

The Girlfriend Experience Blu-ray Movie Review

“I should probably see a shrink, but it seems like more fun just to see you.”

Reviewed by Casey Broadwater October 1, 2009

“See it with someone you ****,” reads the tagline for Steven Soderbergh’s latest experiment in low-budget filmmaking, and the asterisks could stand for just about anything. Love? Hate? I’m betting on the infamous “F” word, but after the less-than-impressive audience turnout for The Good German, maybe Soderbergh is actually saying, “See it with someone, you turd.” Ambiguities aside, The Girlfriend Experience is another divisive entry in the director’s wildly varied filmography. Soderbergh clearly likes to mix it up, alternating big-budget, high-profile projects like the Ocean’s films with art-house explorations like Full Frontal and the decidedly minimalist Bubble. The Girlfriend Experience definitely falls into the latter category, but it’s been given more press than a small independent picture normally receives, due to the fact that it marks the mainstream movie debut of adult film star Sasha Grey, whose IMDB page lists acting credits in 176 productions, most of which have titles unfit to print here.

Grey plays Chelsea, an upscale Manhattan call girl, a kind of Holly Golightly gone thoroughly modern. Unlike most escorts, who get the wham-bam-thank you ma'am treatment, Chelsea provides her clients with something more than just sex: the titular “girlfriend experience.” For a tidy sum of $2,000 per hour, she’ll listen to your woes, feign interest in the books you’re reading, and treat you to tender, understanding intimacies. Her clients pay a premium for emotional investment, and Chelsea keeps a detailed diary containing all of her johns’ likes, dislikes, and erotic hang-ups. Along with physically and emotionally servicing her clients, Chelsea is also in a committed relationship with her boyfriend Chris (Chris Santos), a personal trainer with an obviously high threshold for jealousy. If you guessed that the limits of this threshold are ultimately tested, give yourself a pat on the back. During a particularly rough week, stained by an icky encounter with online escort critic “The Erotic Connoisseur,” Chelsea meets and falls for a new client, a screenwriter who’s only in town for the weekend.

It sounds straightforward enough, and indeed it could be, but Soderbergh tries to wring emotional mystery out of what is otherwise a clear, slice-of-life plot by using a disjointed, non-linear narrative. In some ways, it works. The fractured nature of the time-skipping scenes acts as an audience hook, forcing us to invest ourselves in the story. In a sense, it also mirrors Chelsea’s equally fragmented schedule, as she flits from client to client, presenting a different face to every john. In other ways, it just seems overly convoluted, a stylish way to pad out the simplicity of the plot. The film may be too complicated for its own good, but unlike Bubble—Soderbergh’s lo-fi, improvisational murder mystery—The Girlfriend Experience is never dull. Neither is it titillating, however, which is what some viewers may expect from a film—about a call girl—that stars a real-life porn star. There’s no sex and very little nudity in the film, as Soderbergh is more concerned with the idea of sex—the force that it exerts, the neediness it inspires, the commodity it can become—than the act itself. And even as a force, Soderbergh shows sex as secondary to money, mammon, the almighty dollar. Set during October of 2008, during the financial meltdown and run-up to the presidential election, the film doesn’t beat around the bush —no, not that bush—when it comes to its economic subtext. All of Chelsea’s clients have been hit hard by the recession, and the wording seems entirely intentional when one john says, “The economy is f—ked, and my business is f—ked.” I’m sure there’s a metaphor or allegory lurking in here somewhere, something about capitalism as prostitution or the government offering its financial teat for bankrupt companies to suckle, but I haven’t quite put a finger on it.

Equally vague is Sasha Grey’s sleepy-eyed performance. It’s hard to tell if she’s good at playing emotionally distanced or if she simply is as walled-off as she appears. It’s clear from certain character choices she makes that she’s a thoughtful actress—her commentary track with Soderbergh reinforces this—but for a twenty one year old, she’s trying to affect a much older, more world-wearied persona. At times she seems like a girl playing dress-up, unable to emotionally match the sophistication implied by the clothes that, physically anyway, fit her staggeringly well. Admittedly, this suits her character—someone who thinks she’s more in control of her life than she actually is—but it’s hard to tell if we’re seeing an act, or reality. This appears to be Soderbergh’s intent, and the entirety of the production seems geared toward blurring that line. As with Bubble, the dialogue here is almost completely improvised, and with no lighting rigs or studio artifice—the film was shot with the digital RedOne camera, on-location, with available light—the director allows Grey and her scene partners plenty of room to explore different avenues of expression and conversation. Soderbergh avoids condemning or condoning sex work, preferring a more objective, documentary-like stance, and he wisely resists the urge to over-explain Chelsea’s motivations, staying away from the clichéd, “my uncle used to come into my room and now I’m a prostitute” type stories. While The Girlfriend Experience isn’t entirely successful, and though Soderbergh has taken more than a few critical hits for his more experimental films, I’m glad to see the director so willing to challenge himself and find the creative freedom in working within self-imposed limitations. Not every film has to be Ocean’s 11, right?

The Girlfriend Experience Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Girlfriend Experience's visual experience, by way of a 1080p/VC-1 encoded transfer, is only problematic if you expect it to look more like Ocean's 11 than, say, Bubble. Using the high definition RedOne camera that he employed on his recent Che biopic, Soderbergh documents the life of his Manhattan call girl with cinematography that is somehow both stylized, in color toning and exposure, and naturalistic, employing mostly on-location and natural lighting. At times the film has qualities you'd normally associate with a poor transfer or an inept DP—underexposure, overexposure, crushed blacks, overheated whites— but it's consistently apparent that this transfer represents Soderbergh's every intention. If you can roll with the director's stylistic eccentricities, then The Girlfriend Experience actually looks quite nice. There are some unusually soft medium shots, but much of the film has an adequately resolved sense of clarity, especially in Sasha Grey's pouty close-ups. Color and contrast are all over the place—sometimes strong, sometimes desaturated, sometimes flat—and skin tones tend to go yellowish indoors as an effect of the white balance, but this is all part of S- bergh's master plan. The only choice I found odd was the overexposed and overly diffused look meant to approximate home video during the flight to Vegas scenes. It just seemed unnecessarily ugly. You probably won't put on The Girlfriend Experience to demo your home theater, but it's an excellent representation of what Soderbergh was trying to achieve visually.

The Girlfriend Experience Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Similarly, the film's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track isn't the kind of mix that immediately impresses with onomatopoeic (Whiz! Bang! Pow!) prowess or overly evident sound design. This is definitely a talky film, and thankfully the dialogue is represented clearly and faithfully in all but a few scenes, when the wired actors seem somewhat muffled. For the rest of the film, vocals are bright in the mix and accurately reflect environmental acoustics, showing a slight reverb in emptier, spacious places, and a flatter sound in rooms more densely populated with people and furniture. That said, for vast stretches of the film there's little to no activity in the rear channels. You'll hear some bar ambience, some city sounds, and the clatter of silverware in restaurants, but that's about it. Dynamic range is adequate for a film of this ilk, but don't expect rolling waves of subwoofer output. The only chance the track gets to really bump and grind is during the occasional piece of music.

The Girlfriend Experience Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Unrated Alternate Cut (1080p, 1:16:33)
Uh oh. I can tell your mind is reeling, your pulse racing. You're probably thinking that this cut restores all the gratuitous sex and nudity that Soderbergh had to excise from the film to get an R-rating. If you're thinking that you might get to see Sasha Grey put her ample, uh, talents to good use, you're in for a cold shower. "Unrated" here just means that this cut wasn't put before the MPAA for review. What can you expect then? There are one or two slightly extended scenes and some switched up dialogue, but otherwise not much has changed. I fail to see how these minor modifications justify an entirely new cut. The new material would be just as well suited in a "deleted scenes" section.

Commentary by Steven Soderbergh and Sasha Grey
Soderbergh starts off by saying, "these things should be banned," meaning commentaries, but the following track is brisk, informative, and engaging. The first half covers most elements of the film itself—the "structured improvisation," the research with real escorts, the non-linear editing— but the rest of the conversation turns into Soderbergh interviewing Grey about her career, her life, and the difference between performing in "adult" films and acting in art-house cinema. Well worth a listen for Soderbergh and Grey fans alike.

HDNet: A Look at The Girlfriend Experience (1080i, 4:37)
As you can tell from the brief running time, this is a short EPK-style promo, complete with talking heads and clips from the film. Don't feel obligated to partake.

Also Available From Magnolia Home Entertainment (1080p, 7:03 total)
Includes trailers for Two Lovers, What Just Happened, and The Life Before Her Eyes.

The Girlfriend Experience Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Unconventional and not nearly as sexed-up as some would've liked, The Girlfriend Experience continues Steven Soderbergh's trend of alternating big-budget extravaganzas with smaller, indie-minded dramas. I'm kind of on the fence with this one, but I definitely think it's a film worth watching, a continuation and expansion of some of the ideas and techniques Soderbergh implemented in Bubble. Rent first, I'd say, and purchase later if so inclined.