Steven Soderbergh's The Girlfriend Experience

Let's get something straight: I'm no film critic. And I don't know a goddamned thing about journalism. I don't know the criteria or format that a movie review is supposed to take. However, I saw this movie and I'm about to write about it.

Steven Soderbergh's (Erin Brokovitch, Sex Lies and Videotape) new film The Girlfriend Experience has been highly anticipated by Sasha Grey fans and Soderbergh fans alike. Soderbergh's decision to cast a porn star in the starring role in his production has caused many people to pause. A certain Vodka company pulled its sponsorship of the film once they learned Grey's primary employment. Why are people so stressed out about this? Because they're fucking idiots.

While Grey hasn't yet achieved Oscar status, her portrayal of a high end escort named Christine (her clients know her as Chelsea) is highly satisfying. Taking place in late 2008 prior to the presidential elections and right at the peak of the economic crap fest, we follow Christine as she services her clients in New York City. There is no sex in this movie. So what services are we witnessing? While of course, sexual involvement with her clientele is present, the movie focuses on the other things these men are paying her $2,000 per hour for: companionship.

These are men with high paying jobs, whose money may be hanging in limbo due to the financial crisis. There is a lot of talk about money coming from these men and Chelsea consoles them, both mentally and physically.

Christine lives with her boyfriend Chris who is a personal trainer and has high end clientele himself. Rich folk pay him top dollar to get them into top shape. Clients who treat Chris to trips with their buddies on private jets. We watch him try to get his own finances into shape, cutting deals with existing clients, and expressing a desire for a management role at the gym. The fiscal anxiety is ever present in this film.

Christine talks to a fellow escort and friend about how she originally started escorting to achieve financial freedom. She didn't want to have to rely on her parents. Or her boyfriend. She is savvy in all areas monetary, meeting with a web designer to have her website created and finding new ways to make herself known while still being discreet. She meets with one man who runs a message board who promises that in exchange for the sex she normally charges money for, he will write a positive review of her services. He insists this will up her clientele and gives her an example of another escort that he has "reviewed". Christine is hesitant. But with the economic crisis at hand, she seems to want to ensure her wealth.

Christine becomes more human as the movie progresses, and we start to see the emotional hits her job takes. We see this for the first time while Christine is out shopping. She spots a client of hers walking down the street with another woman, most likely another escort. Grey's portrayal of his odd hurt is well done. She doesn't seem to understand what it is exactly that upsets. The fact that this man is spending his money on another woman? Or is it a pain that hits her ego? He prefers the company of this other woman over her.

She expresses her upset to Chris that evening while they are out at a bar together. Chris is supportive and lets his girlfriend know that she is good at what she does and not to take it personally. It's an odd peek into the relationship of this couple. Not that Chris doesn't have his own reservations about his girlfriend's profession.

Their issues come to light the night that Christine meets a new client who contacts her through her website. On her prepaid phone, she calls this man who is a screenwriter living in L.A. He is young and married with two young daughters. He tells her he has never been with an escort before when Christine asks. She tells him she has a policy that she only sees clients who have been with an escort previously. But she makes an exception for him because his birthday is compatible with hers. "I should probably see a shrink," he tells her over the phone, "But it seems like more fun to see you." After their first meeting, he tells her he is supposed to go back to L.A. but doesn't want to. Does she want to go away with him for the weekend? She does. But she knows Chris won't be happy about it.

She approaches him that evening when she comes home and tells him she "met someone". Their argument is bizarre. Chris understands this is a client that wants Christine to go away with him for the weekend. She says this is something she has to do because there might be something there. Chris tells her she'll be throwing away over a year relationship over this. And at the end of the day, this guy will go back home to his wife and kids. The fight is unsettling and Soderbergh keeps the camera at bay. It's as if we're spying on this couple's spat. But Christine is adamant.

Christine's escort friend commiserates with her on making a connection with a client. A relationship with a client is, in fact, a relationship. But it's not the same as a relationship with a boyfriend, she voices. There are boundaries with the former.

Christine goes to meet her new client outside of the city, at what appears to be a Bed and Breakfast. He hasn't showed.

"I can't come," he tells her over the phone.

"I'm already here."

"I have to go home."

Earlier in the day, he chatted with his daughters via webcam and he realized he needed to be home with his family.

Christine is devastated. But she has no choice but to go back home. We watch her vulnerable for the first time as she sits and cries into her coat.

To top it off, the man who promised her a good review screws her over. He posts a horrible assessment online that includes such slap in the face comments as, "..with her flat affect, lack of culture and utter refusal to engage, Chelsea couldn't even dazzle the likes of Forrest Fucking Gump."

With no one to turn to, she ends up venting to an existing client which she knows is completely unprofessional. But it pours out of her...the pain, the embarrassment, her disgust at herself for trusting this man and the disgust she initially felt at their meeting. Christine is finally completely vulnerable at this point. Her client is attentive, but seems shocked at this outpour of emotion from this normally professional woman. But he is only human and realizes this woman is as well. He offers for them to go downstairs and take a walk around the city together. Christine accepts.

Visit http://www.girlfriendexperiencefilm.com/ for theater information. The Girlfriend Experience has been available on Pay Per View since April 30 (not sure when this trial ends) and opened in select theaters on May 22. It will be opening in different cities around the country throughout the summer.