The Girlfriend Experience - B

Steven Soderbergh used a fragmented narrative to great effect in The Limey which was appropriate because it seemed Wilson (Terrence Stamp) was replaying all the events back in his head on the flight back to London. In The Girlfriend Experience, Sasha Grey plays Christine, a high-end call-girl in New York City trying to expand her business in the weeks before the 2008 presidential election. Her clients know her as Chelsea; some want her physically and some want to talk, but all are worried about the economy. Money (or the lack of it) is also an issue with her boyfriend of around 18 months who works as a physical trainer and has rich friends. They will find something to fight about when Christine decides to break one of their longtime rules . . .
The “plot” is thin and only exists to have director Soderbergh explore issues of commerce, loneliness, sex, politics, and hypocrisy. He often sets the camera far away from the actors which allow the New York settings to assume another character. He lets the action play out, especially in a >5 minute uninterrupted take where the couple fight. Frequently, the actors’ faces are partially obscured by chairs, weight machines, columns, etc. Since the characters hide things from each other (and themselves), it’s only natural that Soderbergh couldn’t see it all either. When an entire face is visualized, it’s usually from a low-angle or an oblique angle, sometimes out of focus. Soderbergh (under pseudonym Peter Andrews) serves as his own cinematographer yet again and keep things interesting with deep blues and browns. On a Lear jet flight to Las Vegas, he allows the light from the windows to overpower the actors. The significance of this is unknown, but it is distinctive and unusual.
But the fragmented narrative serves no real purpose here. It’s as if Soderbergh knew he had no “story” and needed to chop up his film to give it some life. The scenes and observations within them don’t connect and the sum total is less than the parts. Predictably, most people are pro-Obama (it’s NYC after all) and McCain is quietly dismissed as a good man on the wrong team. The one big McCain supporter is a Orthodox Jew who is worried about Obama’s effect on Israel. Of course, since he’s seeing a call girl, it’s an easy way to kill 2 birds with 1 stone by marginalizing religion and Republicans at the same time. I did like the film for its modernity and Soderbergh’s direction, but the themes don’t connect upon reflection. And unlike The Limey, the juxtaposition of any scene with another scene would not have mattered one bit. B