THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE
Year: 2009
USA: Magnolia Pictures
UK: Revolver Entertainment
Cast: Sasha Grey, Chris Santos, Philip Eytan, Glenn Kenny, Timothy Davis, David Levien, Mark Jacobson
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Country: USA
USA & UK: 77 mins
USA Rated: R for sexual content, nudity and language
UK Certificate: 15 contains strong language and sex references
USA Release Date: 22 May 2009 (Limited Release)
UK Release Date: 4 December 2009 (Limited Release - London)
Synopsis
Chelsea (Sasha Grey) is an upscale Manhattan call girl who provides more than just a sexual encounter; for a price, she'll simulate a complete romantic relationship—a girlfriend "experience." Despite a wide variety of happy customers, Chelsea wants to expand her business. Her real boyfriend Chris (Chris Santos), a personal trainer at a downtown gym, has come to terms with his girlfriend's level of experience, not to mention the posh apartment they share as a result of her success.
But it's October of 2008 and the faltering U.S. economy is on everyone's lips. One of Chelsea's clients, a Hassidic jeweller, advises her against keeping her savings in diamonds—"Diamonds have no value. Keep it in gold." Meanwhile, she solicits advice from businesspeople (some of whom are clients) on how to achieve growth in a down market. Chelsea goes so far as to visit a sex connoisseur who runs an influential website and who promises Chelsea a favourable review in exchange for a free sample. Meanwhile, Chris finds himself at an impasse in his own career: training wealthy hedge fund managers, he's generating plenty of business for the gym, but little of that lucre is coming back to him. Worse, his relationship with Chelsea has cooled--hardly a girlfriend experience at all.
On the heels of a nasty web review from the sex connoisseur, Chelsea meets Philip (Philip Eytan), a new client from out of town who listens to her as she unloads her career anxieties to him. In Philip, Chelsea finally sees the promise of a real relationship—a real girlfriend experience—not just another transaction.
From Academy Award-winning director Steven Soderbergh comes THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE, a drama about the fraught relationship between our professional lives and our personal lives in the age of post-crisis capitalism.
THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE stars Sasha Grey, the legendary 21 year-old adult film star making her feature film debut. The film was written by Brian Koppelman and David Levien (THE ILLUSIONIST, ROUNDERS, OCEAN'S 13), produced by Gregory Jacobs (CHE, OCEAN'S 13), and executive-produced by Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban (GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK; WE OWN THE NIGHT).