Review of Girlfriend Experience (2008) by Juan J — 25 Dec 2009

The Girlfriend Experience is a detached, Henry James novel-like experience for the 21st century 20- & 30-something film audience, or, more specifically, for 2008-2009 and the generation that experiences this timeframe as its most vital.

Sasha Grey plays the main subject, but this film is men behaving badly at its most artistic and its most realistic. Perhaps no one yet trusts her with a full load of dialogue, so Ms. Grey appears spaced out--by design, as a clever facade?-- most of the time. Most of the time Ms. Grey is onscreen, she's just listening. Men with money, relationship issues, and awkward propositions are talking; she's calculating her earnings and listening.

Steven Soderbergh's shortest film (76 minutes) since Bubble (2002) features the most explosively condemnatory instance of voiceover since the narrator detailed the collective socialite rejection of Countess Olenska's invitations and her "eradication" in Scorcese's adaptation of Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence.

Mr. Soderbergh remains a master at the art of ending on a perfect scene, though this film approaches perfection for its duration. He is some kind of genius, and it's wonderful to see him so effortlessly display it here without clutter or bloatedness, without the awkward application of fantasy to celebrity, without the forced cerebral nature of some of his other work. His concession to the overbearing effect of current events and the specifics of a late 2008 United States setting, somewhat paradoxically, proves to contribute to the film's timelessness.

His documentarian-like approach to visuals, his refusal to polish anything but the video editing, and the general reticence of his lead actress (What a bizarrely successful cross-over star Ms. Grey could become--I hope she works with Mr. Soderbergh again, though her other film credits are entertaining as well.) contribute to an inexplicably absorbing story of ambition.

The professional Girlfriend, as a character or reflection of a real person, will evoke only a multi-tiered, fluid wave of emotions--lust, sympathy, disgust, capitalistic approval--while the film that details a brief period in her life and career will evoke a multi-tiered, fluid desire to comprehend her character. How did she reach this point? Is she happy? Should I be happy that she's happy? How we measure her professional success (if it is simultaneously possible to ignore our moral qualms concerning her career and the losers with whom she does business) is a problematic issue, but watch The Girlfriend Experience closely and enjoy. She's listening.