The Girlfriend Experience

The 2009 feature film, 'The Girlfriend Experience' depicted the lifestyle of a young woman, played by Sasha Grey, who worked as a high-end call-girl. The excellent Season 1 (8/10*) of the 2016 TV series related how the same character had entered this profession by moonlighting as an escort while studying law and interning at a big-city legal firm. Riley Keogh's portrayal of Christine won a Golden Globe nomination, with her understated performance showing the psychological cost of pretending affection to entitled executives while selling them her body. Prostitution was a persistent theme in each episode, with Keogh's micro-expressions betraying guarded emotions and inner conflicts as Christine subtly adjusted her persona to please various clients, lovers and employers. The series revealed how involvement in the sex trade derailed her personal life and law career.

By contrast, Season 2 (1/10*) lost any meaningful connection with the prostitution theme as it followed three different protagonists in two separate narratives. In the first, an escort embarked on an obsessive lesbian love affair with a corrupt campaign finance operator. In the second, a former call-girl got marooned in witness protection limbo as she awaited the trial of her gangster husband. The characters failed to generate any sympathy, the plots were neither believable nor interesting, and subtlety was entirely absent.

Season 3 (1/10*) continued the decline of 'The Girlfriend Experience' TV series. The plot proposed the far-fetched idea that a young neuro-science college dropout called Iris would engage in prostitution while under pressure to create a cutting edge AI program. The software was required to mimic human emotions, and Iris believed her charades as an escort could be re-purposed to achieve this end. Unfortunately Iris's commercial sex encounters were as vapid and robotic as her office intrigues. More thought seems to have been given to her wardrobe than the plot, which moved at a snail's pace, neglecting any depiction of a real call-girl's issues. Long before the end, the story had become mind-numbing, pseudo sci-fi tedium.

While many may hate this series for politically correct reasons or because they are not used to adult pacing (as opposed to juvenile comic book-style movies full of flashy editing), I was taken in by it ... but mostly because of Riley Keough, who is a very natural, subtle actress. The series features a little titillation here and there, but it's tasteful, artfully photographed, and looks great.

The show works in that -- even though the protagonist is a person of questionable moral values, she's surrounded by all these far more horrible, reptilian people (lawyers and other wretched/inhuman scum). So, by comparison, she comes off as the most empathetic person on the whole show; you end up bonding with her because you hate everyone else. (As Robert McKee often says: "Empathy ... is absolute, while sympathy is optional." Meaning empathy is enough ... to keep us engaged. We empathize with the main character, but we don't necessarily sympathize with her. )

I also like the protagonist's rebellious streak and admired her discipline and focus. As the actress herself said about the character: "she's driven." (Driven to a fault, actually.) There's also something terribly sad about her too. We can sense her loneliness as, obviously, she has no friends. In fact, there's an existential quality about the whole show, which is emphasized with the Cliff Martinez-like ambient music underscoring many scenes.

But this show is all about the actress, Riley Keough. Having said this, I didn't care for the final show of the season, which was a bit much (maybe a bad idea stretched out for the whole episode). I would love to see this show continue -- but only with same actress. I've already watched some episodes more than once, and I'm sure I'll watch the whole season again. It's worth owning.

Bottom line: Check it out. And kudos to Riley Keough for her sophisticated, subtle performance.

Wow l never known her from before this but Riley Keogh was amazing in it I started to watch second season not knowing she was not in it ...when I realised I stopped watching . WTF were they thinking . !!! She was the show.

Season 1 had a lot of sex, even too much sex to the point that it got repetitive. But what it had was an intriguing probably sociopathic character who tries out being an escort and getting a little more than money from it. Interesting, complex character study, with an actual plot with good secondary characters as well. 7 or sometimes 8 out of 10 for me.

Season 2 is split into two parts with two completely different stories and to be honest I just sped through the first part and didn't watch the second. Still, a lot of sexually explicit scenes and this time more variance with a bisexual escort and her lesbian lover. Gorgeous clothes but rather empty otherwise and not much plot. Still, an attempt was made to explore something psychological between the two lesbian lovers about love and infatuation and power. So 6/10 for first part only.

Season 3 has nearly no sex until you get to like the second half of the show. This is a strategy that could have been refreshing and different, but it exposed some of the weaknesses of the show that we would have been distracted from had there been more sex. Such as a weak plot, one-note acting and lack of overall emotional warmth that a terminally sick parent can't make up for and that increasingly gaudy fashion can't disguise. The pilot gave a strong start and lots of potential in the protagonist's acting ability, but unfortunately her character didn't really develop much farther from there. Or it did, and somehow the writing didn't take us on that journey from novice to expert escort that we needed to be a part of to invest in the protagonist's character. 6/10

While a cold and passionless show in a story about the ultimate form of passion, sex, The Girlfriend Experience does overall offer something unique and I think it's worth checking out even if you have to speed through some repetitive scenes or weak plot. There is something insightful in odd moments.

There are two things going on in this series: the story line and the acting of Riley Keough. The series is done in 13 half-hour episodes so there is little time for providing background or explanations. Rather, the intent and motivations of Christine/Chelsea/Amanda are expressed entirely in the body language, vocal tones, eyes and expressions of Ms. Keough. It's a complex character but by the end of the series I felt I understood this character as I have understood few others. Being previously unfamiliar with Ms. Keough, I was frankly stunned by her acting talent. In the later episodes, the story line transitions from the inner turmoil of the main character while living a dual life into her life entirely as a call girl. This gives Ms. Keough less to do in terms of portraying the multiple aspects of her character. The series suffers for this. Many viewers will focus on the sex scenes, some of which are probably too long if not unnecessary. This is a shame because it takes the focus away from the incredible job Ms. Keough does in realistically portraying a character trying to exist in two vastly different worlds while trying to prevent those worlds from colliding. With a less gifted actress, GFE would be a run of the mill drama. What sets this series apart is Ms. Keough's fascinating portrayal of a complex character. She makes it well worth watching and I look forward to her next project.