The Girlfriend Experience (2009)
Actors:
Steven Soderbergh (editor),
Steven Soderbergh (director),
Ken Meyer (miscellaneous crew),
Timothy J. Cox (actor),
Carol A. Compton (miscellaneous crew),
Sasha Grey (actress),
Sasha Grey (actress),
Mark Cuban (producer),
Danny Boushebel (actor),
Ken Lavet (miscellaneous crew),
Todd Wagner (producer),
Edward M. Kelahan (actor),
Robert T. Striem (miscellaneous crew),
Brian Koppelman (writer),
Gregory Jacobs (producer),
Plot: Chelsea (Sasha Grey) is a high-priced $2,000-an-hour call girl in Manhattan, offering a 'girlfriend experience': she'll dress with the client in mind, go to dinner and a movie, listen attentively to talk about work and finances, and she'll provide sex. It's October, 2008: a presidential election nears and the economy is in free fall. She has a boyfriend, Chris (Chris Santos), who's a personal trainer. We are shown five non-consecutive days in Chelsea's life. She's working on her Web page, talking to image consultants, and being interviewed by a reporter. She asks clients when their birthdays are and uses that for an astrological prediction. She's drawn to a new client, a writer from L.A. Should she break her rules for him? What if it risks her relationship with Chris? Should she invest in gold?
Keywords: actor-shares-first-name-with-character, airport, art-gallery, bar, bare-breasts, bare-chested-male, bathtub, black-bra-and-panties, box-office-flop, boyfriend-girlfriend-relationship
Genres:
Drama,
Taglines: See it with someone you ****
Quotes:
Chelsea: [voice-over] I met with Phillipe on October 5th and 6th. I wore a Michael Kors dress and shoes with La Perla lingerie underneath, and diamond stud earrings. We met at 7:30 PM at the hotel, and had a drink downstairs. He liked my dress but didn't go into detail why, and didn't mention anything else about my appearance. We ate dinner at Blue Hill. Phillipe didn't ask for a menu and had the chef serve us a five-course meal, a different wine with each course. We went to the 9:40 PM showing of 'Man on Wire' at the Sunshine Cinema, and he liked the movie. We went back to the hotel and talked for half an hour. Mostly about a friend of his that keeps borrowing money from him and not paying it back. Then we had sex for about an hour. After that, we talked for about 15 minutes and he fell asleep. At breakfast, he briefly told me his worries regarding the economy, and he said I should invest my money in gold. He also mentioned a book about how the Federal Reserve works. He didn't make another appointment.
Chelsea: [voice-over] On October 18th, I met with Dan. I wore a vintage black cashmere sweater, earnest sewn jeans, and Pour la Victoire boots. Dan talked the entire time. We didn't have sex. He was very upset about a contract his firm lost to I.M. PEI. He set another date for Tuesday, October 21st.
Chelsea: [voice-over] On October 25th, I met with Dennis. We had lunch at Nobu and then went to a hotel room. During lunch, he talked about the financial crisis. When we got back to the hotel room, he immediately got on the phone and ordered some Macallan 25. I put on a Kiki de Montparnasse corset, panties and gloves. The shoes were basic Zara. After he got off the phone, we made out for a while and then he asked me to masturbate, which I did. Then he masturbated while watching me. He made another appointment for November 3rd.
Chelsea: Sometimes clients think they want the real you, but at the end of the day, they say they don't. They want what... they want what you want to be. They want you to be something else. They don't want you to be yourself.::Interviewer: Suppose I'm that rare client that really wants to...::Chelsea: If they wanted you to be yourself, they wouldn't be paying you.
Interviewer: What I'm trying to build up to here is to see the role this guy plays in your life. Not necessarily your relationship between you... I'm not intrested in the intimate details between these two people... you and your boyfriend. I'm intrested in the kind of relationship somebody in your business would have with someone they actually love.::Chelsea: You'll have to ask him on that.
Chelsea: [into a phone] So, what are you looking forward to? Do you have anything specific in mind?::David: [voice] Well... you know, after looking at your web site I'd just really love to get together with you. I'm just kind of feeling stressed out. I should probally see a shrink, but it seems more fun to see you.::Chelsea: Why don't you tell me about yourself? Are you married? Do you have kids? What kind of screenplay are you working on?::David: Yes and yes, and no comment.::Chelsea: How many kids do you have?::David: I have two little girls. Don't make me feel bad, though.::Chelsea: I woun't.
Chelsea: This David and I clicked. There was something there. And I told him that...::Chelsea's Girlfriend: You told him that?::Chelsea: I told him that I was going out of town for the weekend. And he didn't like that at all, and what really set it off was when he insulted me about my... you know. All about my personology books. I had a feeling he didn't support me in my belief. And I found out last night for sure.::Chelsea's Girlfriend: So he found out last night that he doesn't like your astrology?::Chelsea: It's not astrology. Are you goint to do this to me too?::Chelsea's Girlfriend: It kind of is.::Chelsea: It's not. I mean 20,000 people... that's more than just reading star signs.::Chelsea's Girlfriend: I definitely think it's important. It's critical to have someone who supports you. But it's important to you know... I don't want to be negative, 'cause I think that feeling when you connect with a client is the best feeling in the world, and I don't want to be sort of down on that.::Chelsea: It's funny because I wanted to get away from my parents. I didn't want to depend on them. I didn't want their money. And that's more than half the reason I started doing this profession in the first place. I now have a lot of money saved up, and I woun't completely feel like I'm dependent on him. Monetarily at least.
Interviewer: We agreed to meet here and have this kind of situation, which is a transactional situation like the one you deal with all the time in your business, right? Now, we're up to this part where I'm asking you something that would actually be intresting to me, and I feel that you're holding out on me. I mean, the thing is that the inner you is really... I mean, there's... in this business it's all about appearance, right? If you weren't beautiful, nobody would be paying to bang you, right? To put it grossly, right? So the thing is that if you weren't beautiful, you wouldn't be in this business. Is that right? Do we agree on that? So, suppose I like your looks, but I'm really much more intrested in the real you because I get a sense from looking at your picture on your web site... I'm not talking about myself, but I'd say somebody else... I got a feeling looking at your picture and also looking into your eyes right now and the way your doing that with your hair and the way you're wearing your little outfit there and all that other stuff... and I like your earings. And here's someone I really would like to get to know a little better. So, is that iron door of yours always gonna be closed?::Chelsea: For most people, yes.::Interviewer: Most? For some people, is it possible that there might be a crack in that little door you could walk through? This kind of thing that you could possibly get through? I assume the armor in your situation must be very thick just because it has to be, right? So, what kind of guy would it have to be?