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The Girlfriend ExperienceBy Claudia PuigThe Girlfriend Experience is like cinema v??rit?? crossed with performance art. And while the idea seems well-suited for our voyeuristic, reality-programming-obsessed times, it's hampered by a listless quality and a one-note performance by porn-star-turned-actress Sasha Grey. Not all that much happens while Chelsea (Grey), a high-priced New York call girl, goes about her business. She's not an ordinary prostitute: She provides a faux sense of companionship as well as the usual services of someone in her profession; there's as much conversation as consummation. The film is beautifully shot, as is usually the case with director Steven Soderbergh. His versatility - in subject matter and genre, from 2007's Ocean's 13 to 2008's Che to Girlfriend- is admirable. But the characters, as conceived by screenwriters Brian Koppelman and David Levien, are far from compelling. Chelsea is supremely confident, bordering on smug. Just 21, she has a devoted live-in boyfriend, Chris (Chris Santos), and an ambitious, entrepreneurial spirit. She consults business associates and Web designers about how to expand her clientele (one suggests a better logo and more provocative photos), while Chris, a personal trainer, struggles to improve his fortunes. The film's success hinges on the believability of Grey's performance. But she's so bland and low-key that it's difficult to care about her travails, which are more tedious than provocative. She is consistently blas?? and relies on a strange system of "personology" to determine her compatibility with clients. She's calculated and detached, yet we're expected to believe she's upset when a new customer backs out of a rendezvous at the last minute. But the film is grounded in the very real, recent past. It's October 2008, and Chelsea and everyone around her are feeling the pinch of the economy's free fall. The November election is a discussion topic, as is the value of gold and plummeting stocks. Somewhere in this tiresome story is a commentary about materialism. Life is seen as an ongoing financial transaction. Chelsea pointedly remembers the names of her client's wives and children and inquires about them politely. She keeps a journal of what she wore, what restaurants they patronized and an almost clinical account of sexual details. The life of an upscale hooker: Even in the throes of passion, it's beyond bland. ?? Copyright 2009 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc. |
