Review of Girlfriend Experience (2008) by Dana A — 15 May 2010

Saw this at Tribeca and this was the most painful experience I have ever suffered through. Boring, boring and even more boring. I wanted to shoot myself in the head just to wakeup from this boring movie.

What's even funnier is that they had Sasha Grey talking about the film and she's even more boring in person. The story goes nowhere and neither does anything else. Porn stars should not be allowed to talk, cause they're BORING! There were several problems with this movie the writer and director could have easily solved.

One: pick a compelling topic and stay with it. The movie advertizes its about the life of an esort, what they go through and the complications of their lives and business. The problem apparently is that no one knows how to execute this rather easy topic.

Instead it features some of the worst annoying editing, random cuts about the political elections and meandering discussions about gold. What??? This did not keep my interested and made me rather confused.

Is this film trying to make a political statement?? If so, I would rather be told outright then the method they choosed. This movie has gotten some praise and not all to shocked. There was a very interesting story here, buried deep within Sasha Grey's poor acting.

Some could interpret Sasha poor acting where she stares dead-like into the camera as a reflection of aspects that women use in the business world all the time, so they don't become emotionally attached to their clients.

Yet, Chelsea fails this test which result in the consequences for her in the end. This itself is rather intriguing. The constant boring conversations about buying gold, which she listens to could appeared she had a good grasp of money and how to get the most for her money, a recycling of the bargaining process she engaged in through her career choice.

And, the juxtaposition of her boyfriend, who was a whore, while I would argue she was not, was ironic. There are other elements of this film that if you look deeper, way under the boringness of it, you would discover there were elements of feminism; misogyny; capitalism at its worst, hope, the flat affect that happens when society doesnâ??t approve of either career choice, or how you work and behave within the context of your career choice, the loneliness of trying to be who you are.

This film had all the right elements but was just executed rather silly-like. This was the longest 77 minutes of my life and easily one of Soderbergh's worst.