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Sasha Grey, Chris Santos, Philip Eytan, Timothy Davis, David Levien ... see more see more... , Mark Jacobson , Glenn Kenny

The Girlfriend Experience stars adult film actress Sasha Grey as Chelsea, a high-priced escort who offers her wealthy clientele the eponymous service. In other words, on their long, often overnight "d... read more read more...ates," she assumes the role of a temporary romantic partner, attending highbrow cultural events, engaging in intellectual discourse, and eating at hip and expensive restaurants, all while expressing an interest in the client's life and work. She keeps a detailed journal about her clients. Chelsea's live-in boyfriend, a personal trainer (Chris Santos, who previously worked as a personal trainer in the real world), struggles with trying to earn a fair share of the upscale business he brings into his gym. Chris is conflicted when a wealthy client invites him on a weekend trip to Vegas. The couple faces further problems when Chelsea finds herself sincerely attracted to one of her clients, a married screenwriter. Over the course of the film, Chelsea is interviewed by a journalist (played by real-life journo Mark Jacobson, whose reporting on Frank Lucas inspired the film American Gangster), and visits "The Erotic Connoisseur," a sleazy blogger who reviews escort services (portrayed by film critic Glenn Kenny). Director Steven Soderbergh shot The Girlfriend Experience (under the pseudonym Peter Andrews) using the same high-definition camera he used on Che. The script is by the writing team David Levien and Brian Koppelman (Rounders), who previously worked with Soderbergh on Ocean's Thirteen. The Girlfriend Experience was shown at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival. As with Soderbergh's Bubble, it was released theatrically and on pay-per-view on the same date. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

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35% liked it

31,968 ratings

Critics

64% liked it

121 critics

R, 1 hr. 17 min.

Directed by: Steven Soderbergh

Release Date: May 22, 2009

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DVD Release Date: September 29, 2009

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Flixster Reviews (1,441)

  • fb619846742
    May 24, 2012
    fb619846742
    An original though detached and shallow study of the economic meltdown of 2008, seen through the lenses of a New York call girl (Sasha Grey), and how she deals with her various clients. While director Steven Soderbergh does a brilliant job picking a perspective on a subject like ... read morethis and having a "fly on the wall" presence throughout, the film's inability to enamor or push beyond its initial thoughts on the economy prove to be very disappointing. It is still pretty good considering how Soderbergh filmed this as well as the fact that this does feel like an authentic look at a major event, but his inability to get inside his character's heads as well as not knowing exactly how to end his film mars its enough to say it is not worth an automatic recommendation. It is not bad, it just had the potential to be so much more than it is.
  • kenstachnik
    December 16, 2010
    kenstachnik
    You have to admit, he got a hell of a performance out of a porn star.
  • stevenecarrier
    July 15, 2010
    stevenecarrier
    Steven Soderbergh's "The Girlfriend Experience" is the NYC companion to his LA set "Full Frontal". Both are meta-film style experiments that stretch the imagination with it's storytelling approach and performances, but while "Full Frontal" is much more of a Hollywood satire, "The... read more Girlfriend Experience" is a meditation of the economic state of 00's America and chasing pipe dreams. Brilliant cinematography and a daring plot make this film thought provoking, arresting and always fascinating.
  • MizturY0da
    May 15, 2010
    MizturY0da
    What a disappointment. The film comes over as having had no script to begin with. Everybody's chit-chatting along, the camera (manned by the man himself - and one hears he tried to channel Antonioni - what's he smoking) is so utterly boring, the frames so stilted, action so terri... read morebly stagy - what actually is this movie. Not to mention the 'infamous' RED camera: the movie looked like it was shot with some miniDV camera with all highlights totally blown and no depth to the images. Mixed lighting is a mixed blessing, no matter what camera - somebody please forward that to the 'cinematographer'. And then there's 'sound': I can see that there's not even a name assigned in the IMDb credit's list. No wonder - I wouldn't put my name there. It seems for Soderbergh it's enough to slap some wires onto the actors (but really really deep under some layers of clothe to make it really sound mumbly-jumbly) and voila, we've replaced the sound department. Only question left is, who is coming up with money for productions like that. Really really bad and completely uninspired 'product'.
  • paulsandberg
    May 13, 2010
    paulsandberg
    An oddly disjointed affair, as the topic suggests, jumping from place to place, backwards and forwards in time as it revisits scenes to embellish an emotion or drive home a point.

    At the center of the film is Sasha Grey, an escort (read high end call girl, ala Secret Diary of ... read moreA Call Girl) who has the requisite emotional detachment required of her profession until, by chance and her own mystical beliefs (some kind of numerology... it's never exactly explained, and unfortunately becomes the nexus point in the film - not a very strong motive for what follows), she finds a John she feels a connection to. This doesn't sit well with her long time boyfriend (gee, what a surprise there!), and ultimately breaks them apart - end of story (and really all you really need to know).

    Everything else that happens, the despair and almost frantic attempts to regain what was lost in the market crash, is superficial, although I was somewhat amused by all the angles the charactors played, especially the "sex critic" who wanted a freeby in order to write Sasha a good review (all the while promissing her a trip to Dubai, where she would rake in the cash for sheeting shieks (nice alliteration don't you think)).

    Perhaps some of this material would seem shocking - maybe in 1960, but with the aforementioned "Diary of a Call Girl" showing on Showtime, the call girl angle doesn't add anything - so you end up with a story of an emotionally stunted woman who is unable to enjoy her solid situation with her boyfriend and is willing to throw it all away on a prayer of a weekend fling. Sadly, I think that even she knew it would not end well - giving the film a certain fatalistic, almost existential view that, while marginally interesting, isn't anything revolutionary.
  • gor41
    April 14, 2010
    gor41
    Icily cold, grim look at high class prostitution which probes at the tired issue of whether call girls can separate work (or business as this drives home) from a private life. Grey is bland, shallow and emotionless so one wonders why anybody, let alone very wealthy successful New... read more Yorkers, would pay for her time beyond her looks.
  • blacksheepboy
    March 5, 2010
    blacksheepboy
    Soderbergh takes a close look at the private life of an escort played by porn actress Sasha Grey, as she deals with her clients, her work and her boyfriend. Though the story may not appeal to everyone, I myself found it fascinating.
  • deano
    January 26, 2010
    deano
    This quite strange full-drama film represents a return to the smaller, more personal film for director Steven Soderbergh in the tradition of his debut feature Sex, Lie and Videotape. Sasha Grey, a real-life porn starlet, is really hot as well as you can see her in a brief ... read morenudity scene (not enough). Soderbergh rests his film's success on the narrow shoulders of Grey, as Christine (aka Chelsea), who proves a capable, if tepid, leading actor in her inaugural "mainstream" effort. She suits her director, as there are no layers of contrivance to her performance.
  • ythelastman89
    January 5, 2010
    ythelastman89
    Very much in the same light as Sex, Lies and Videotape. I was really impressed with the unique shooting style and storytelling format. It was non-linear, but that is the only way I'd want to see it unravel. The acting was great for what Steven Soderbergh was going for, they were ... read moreall very real characters. The clients talking constantly about the economy and the election was priceless, especially since they're in the process of renting an escort for thousands of dollars.
  • ceWEBrity
    November 24, 2009
    ceWEBrity
    Didn't work for me. It's an interesting stylistic experiment and I appreciated some of the things that Soderbergh was going for (the recurring theme of currency, monetary or physical) but Sasha Grey is utterly charmless. The character of Chelsea calls for surgical, objective dist... read moreance from the events that surround her; we're supposed to get the idea that she is observing her clients and their fears from a perceptive, intelligent distance. Grey is glassy-eyed. She just seems bored. This is the movie's primary problem, and why I didn't care for it much. The character isn't supposed to be a pawn for Soderbergh - by the end of the film we're supposed to see her as an emotionally functioning, real person, but it's hard to cohere to someone who's spent the last hour with the same stony, inexpressive look on her face. Nothing this role called for, like the ability to project inherent inquisitiveness or an analytical nature, is within Grey's skill set. It's stunt casting gone wrong.

    Perhaps you'll feel differently, but even if Grey works for you, the movie accomplishes very little. You could skip it without any regrets.

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Critic Reviews

Peter Howell
June 26, 2009
Peter Howell, Toronto Star

The movie ends so abruptly (it runs a scant 77 minutes), it's a toss-up as to whether Soderbergh was trying to make an auteur statement or simply lost his mojo. Full Review

Liam Lacey
June 25, 2009
Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail

This is one of the director's small, experimental, semi-improvised provocations, and if it doesn't push too deep, it's pointed enough to leave a mark. Full Review

Christopher Orr
June 8, 2009
Christopher Orr, New Republic

There are layers upon layers here--a porn star taking on a serious acting role in which she plays a woman whose job is to make herself an object of male fantasy--but it's unclear whether Grey is aware... Full Review

Adam Graham
June 5, 2009
Adam Graham, Detroit News

After it's over, it quickly vanishes from memory, and viewers are on to the next transaction. Full Review

Ben Mankiewicz
May 26, 2009
Ben Mankiewicz, At the Movies

As much as there is to admire about Soderbergh, his indifference to time sequencing hurts the story here. Full Review

Ben Lyons
May 26, 2009
Ben Lyons, At the Movies

You really do lose yourself in these characters. Full Review

Claudia Puig
May 22, 2009
Claudia Puig, USA Today

The life of an upscale hooker: Even in the throes of passion, it's beyond bland. Full Review

Dana Stevens
May 22, 2009
Dana Stevens, Slate

Though the result is thematically slight, it's structurally sophisticated enough to reward a second viewing (or at least, unlike Grey's previous work, to be watched all the way through). Full Review

Mick LaSalle
May 22, 2009
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

The first important cinematic statement about the recession. Full Review

Peter Travers
May 22, 2009
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

What makes The Girlfriend Experience a fresh provocation is not the new ways available to build a fantasy but the near-impossibility of negotiating one you can actually believe in. Full Review

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