Review of Girlfriend Experience (2008) by Vic R — 27 Dec 2009

Despite all its flaws (and I expect to see many terrible reviews here) Soderbergh's film touches on something fundamental about our current culture; how we are all attempting to commodify ourselves.

With the AIG collapse and the pending 2008 election as its backdrop, the film lives in a world of illusion, paralleling the lives of prostitutes, personal trainers and their rich clients who are all fixated on cultivating and maintaining an appearance of invulnerability that is not just vanity but essential to maintaining their success.

It is like our economy, itself. The icy cinematography is also aces. On the negative side, while Soderbergh's icy and beautiful images appropriately convey his metaphor, they also keep us at arm's length.

It is hard to suddenly have to feel something for the characters. Current "it" porn star Sasha Grey gives a decent performance here. Occasionally she is stiff and uncomfortable but this actually works in the context of her character.

Also, the character is written a little too naively. It is hard to imagine a woman as successful in her line of work having so little self awareness. But worst of all may be the director's splintered narrative and play with chronology which has been so effective in films like The Limey but feel completely arbitrary in this case.

Nonetheless, there is something unique and interesting, here.