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T O P I C R E V I E W
Joe Blevins
Posted - 06/01/2009 : 02:06:01 I saw Steven Soderbergh's new flick, The Girlfriend Experience yesterday. You know -- the one with the real-life porn star (Sasha Grey) portraying a high-priced call girl. As other critics have rushed to point out, there is little to no onscreen sex in this flick. It is virtually all talk -- mostly one-on-one conversations between the main character, Chelsea, and the people in her life (clients, her boyfriend, a fellow prostitute) with some sparse narration by Grey. The film (shot on DV and purposely blurry in spots) takes the low-key, low-fi semi-documentary approach you expect from indie pictures these days.
I think Soderbergh is documenting the numbing soullessness of the sex trade -- and, by extension, consumer culture in general -- here, and Grey is perfect for the part. She is the living embodiment of that Sex Pistols song "Pretty Vacant." The flick never gets moralistic or preachy, and it does not go out of its way to make Grey's lifestyle look unnattractive. On the contrary, Chelsea and the upscale world she inhabits are filmed in a very flattering, though cold and stand-offish way. An interior decorating magazine could do a whole issue on "The Stunning Apartments of The Girlfriend Experience," and Grey describes her wardrobe to us in great detail, rattling off the pricey brand names in that passionless monotone of hers.
I don't really know if Grey has a future in non-pornographic films after this. With her thick, arched eyebrows and somewhat haughty manner, she might make a Disney villainness someday if she could actually work up some passion or enthusiasm for villainy. In this film, she seems only slightly more engaged with her surroundings than, say, Rain Man or the zombies of Night of the Living Dead. (One character points out, hilariously, that Chelsea "couldn't dazzle Forrest F***ing Gump.")
