The Girlfriend Experience (2009)

A drama set in the days leading up to the 2008 Presidential election, and centered on a high-end Manhattan call girl meeting the challenges of her boyfriend, her clients, and her work.

Director:

Steven Soderbergh

Writers:

David Levien, Brian Koppelman

Stars:

Sasha Grey, Chris Santos, Philip Eytan

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sasha Grey	...	Chelsea / Christine
Chris Santos	...	Chris
Philip Eytan	...	Phillip
T. Colby Trane	...	Waiter
Peter Zizzo	...	Zizzo
Ron Stein	...	Vegas Buddy #1
Marshall Gilman	...	Vegas Buddy #2
Michael Roberts	...	Vegas Buddy #3
Vincent Dellacera	...	Chelsea's Driver
Jim Kempner	...	Art Gallery Owner
David Levien	...	David
Mark Jacobson	...	Interviewer
Alan Milstein	...	Pete
Sukhdev Singh	...	Chris & Chelsea's Super
Ted Jessup	...	Chatty 'John'

Storyline

Chelsea (Sasha Grey) is a high-priced $2,000-an-hour call girl in Manhattan, offering a 'girlfriend experience': she'll dress with the client in mind, go to dinner and a movie, listen attentively to talk about work and finances, and she'll provide sex. It's October, 2008: a presidential election nears and the economy is in free fall. She has a boyfriend, Chris (Chris Santos), who's a personal trainer. We are shown five non-consecutive days in Chelsea's life. She's working on her Web page, talking to image consultants, and being interviewed by a reporter. She asks clients when their birthdays are and uses that for an astrological prediction. She's drawn to a new client, a writer from L.A. Should she break her rules for him? What if it risks her relationship with Chris? Should she invest in gold?

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Plot Keywords:

client | presidential election | call girl | economy | personal trainer | 

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Taglines:

See it with someone you ****

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sexual content, nudity and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [jp]

Country:

USA

Language:

English French

Release Date:

8 July 2009 (France)

Also Known As:

GfE

Filming Locations:

Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,700,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$204,112 (USA) (22 May 2009)

Gross:

$695,417 (USA) (28 August 2009)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Magnolia Pictures, 2929 Productions, Extension 765

Technical Specs

Runtime:

77 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

"Girlfriend experience" is a form of sex work (paid-for female companionship) in which a female prostitute behaves like a male client's girlfriend or shows (artificial) emotional intimacy beyond the sex act.

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Quotes

Chelsea: Sometimes clients think they want the real you, but at the end of the day, they say they don't. They want what... they want what you want to be. They want you to be something else. They don't want you to be yourself.
Interviewer: Suppose I'm that rare client that really wants to...
Chelsea: If they wanted you to be yourself, they wouldn't be paying you.

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Crazy Credits

After the end credits, there's a brief scene of Chelsea washing a client's hair as he sits in a bathtub and talks about John McCain.

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Connections

References McHale's Navy (1962)

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Soundtracks

"Man in Back"
Written and Performed by Shakerleg
Courtesy of Bleeding Hands Music

User Reviews

Horrendously Dull

This movie felt like it had potential. It's not often that films try to take a serious look at the world of prostitution. This, however, was a downright mess. It was a terribly contrived attempt at being being hip, indie, and sexy and only managed to land the part that it was independent. The script was AWFUL. The only thing any of these characters ever spent any amount of time discussing with one another was the economic crisis and the presidential elections and that's it, quite literally. If I wanted to listen to more financial rhetoric I would have turned on the news. What about exploring the effects the sex trade has on personal relationships? Or the people involved? Look elsewhere if you're interested in the humanity of these individuals because none is displayed here... And sexy? Please. There is no sensuality to this film and barely even sexuality, which is surprising considering how the entire premise of the film is built around sex. There is no sex and only one or two nude scenes that I can recall, which has become pretty standard for practically any independent film these days.

Sasha Grey is a downright disaster. There's a reason why she does porn

• she can't act! This girl maintains the same stone cold, dead-eyed

expression and tone throughout the ENTIRE film (save for ONE scene where she laughs with a client). Apparently she only has two expressions, bored and orgasm (referring to her adult films). In this film we only see the first... For that matter, all of the characters are one dimensional, flat, and boring.

I had to quite literally force myself to watch this garbage. Save your time and money and skip over this dud.