Keough's portrayal of Christine is calculated, cold, and pristine, like a revamped Patrick Bateman. However, the show will still be directed by Soderbergh, who between this and The Knick is quite a busy guy for someone who is allegedly retired. This whole movie is Chelsea's and the brunt of the film falls squarely on Sasha Grey's fingers. When we meet Christine, she's a law student with an internship at a glossy patent law firm, and she's semi-scandalized by the idea of being an escort. Jul 08, 2011The beauty of the movie lies in the way the scenes appear as being stolen stills from reality. Like the film, the show will focus on high-end escorts and all the craziness that surrounds this underground world. The movie is all about thought and character, and could be off-putting in that respect. The problem lies within its overall delivery which is lifeless. In the end, I always have fun seeing a Soderbergh film for the first time and The Girlfriend Experience was no different. At one point, she asks her older sister if she thinks she could be a sociopath. While her escort friend talks about her work, Christine asks, "And you have sex with them? " He made another appointment for November 3rd. There's the widower with fungus on his feet whose children won't talk to him, the hotel owner taking out loans so he can afford to pay Christine, the good-guy lawyer, and the married guy who seems to be the only one who understands Christine is just another flawed person. The show is a lot like its main character: distractingly beautiful, but ultimately empty, even when it treats you to a little glimpse of humanity.
Steven Soderbergh's 2009 movie The Girlfriend Experience worked in large part because of the lead performance of then-porn star Sasha Grey. The Girlfriend Experience is, at times, irritating, captivating, uncomfortable, beautiful, heavy-handed, frightening, confusing, and a little bit dumb. It's long enough to detach viewers from what's really happening: just a shiny metal tool slowly working against flesh. He hints at it, but doesn't just come out and say it. It's extremely short and also feels like the audience is distanced from the characters. The new Starz series is loosely inspired by Steven Soderbergh's 2009 film of the same name, which chronicled the work of a high-end escort (played by then-adult-actress Sasha Grey) trying to make money in New York City after the 2008 financial collapse. It is still pretty good considering how Soderbergh filmed this as well as the fact that this does feel like an authentic look at a major event, but his inability to get inside his character's heads as well as not knowing exactly how to end his film mars its enough to say it is not worth an automatic recommendation. Steven Soderbergh who has directed countless high profile stars gives Grey nothing to do. While director Steven Soderbergh does a brilliant job picking a perspective on a subject like this and having a "fly on the wall" presence throughout, the film's inability to enamor or push beyond its initial thoughts on the economy prove to be very disappointing.
Steven Soderbergh's latest lo-fi production is strikingly crafted but emotionally vague. Even moments of intense fear and paranoia are trumped by this blank look, as if Christine is terrified to feel anything other than a deadening emptiness. Christine's interactions with some of these men are the only evidence that she's capable of empathy. These effects only heighten the fact that show already feels like a political thriller.
Even while trying to claim that sex is no big deal, The Girlfriend Experience is often hand-wringing and squeamish, treating physical intimacy like an act of body horror. She gasps at another point, as if this wouldn't be any logical person's first assumption. Long, patient shots seem to slow down time, even as more than a year passes over the course of the series. Read critic reviews. Grey does well in the role only because I really do not know if she is acting or not. Jul 27, 2012Chelsea: After he got off the phone, we made out for a while and then he asked me to masturbate, which I did.
The Girlfriend Experience's performances just aren't good enough to create it. On The Girlfriend Experience, this space exists in moody hotel room lighting and late nights at the office, coming up for daylight only when the dark gets too heavy. The only thing that is lacking in The Girlfriend Experience to create that same realistic effect are the performances. The soundtrack too recalls a specific kind of wealthy, ambient horror: single, piercing notes; ice clinking against glass; hotel doors unlocking with plastic key cards. A good concept with some important themes, The Girlfriend Experience still falls flat. It wasn't a masterpiece by any stretch, but it was a decent little experiment. At 77 minutes, it crawls towards those minutes feeling like two and half hours worth of cinema. It's more just a character driven movie that has some statements to say about the Obama/McCain race and the crumbling economy. The Girlfriend Experience premieres on Starz on April 10th and all 13 episodes will be available on Starz On Demand and Starz Play. "You meet men online? "