The Girlfriend Experience

When I first came across 'The Girlfriend Experience' I didn't know what to expect, I hadn't seen the movie, and reviews were very mixed, some calling it a great show, others commenting on its apparent blandness and cold feel.

When i finally came around to watching it, it really intrigued me, I really enjoyed shows like house of cards, and I thought Paul sparks (who was also in HoC) was great is his role, his cold, more absent way of presenting himself was in my opinion great for his role.

The same goes for Riley Keough, while a lot of others seem to dislike her cold, detached personality as Christine, I found it rather fitting. Someone who gets extremely intimate with strangers would have to be like this in my opinion. Because of this the show is quite realistic, and the admittedly rather lacking story, (there is one, but its not as well developed as it could be) fits with this genre. It really isn't a regular TV- show story, but a look at a life, a life that ís cold and impersonal.

The grey-ish lighting and set design also really works with this detached feel, and the music (or lack thereof) really helps sell the seriousness and loveless acts and conversations.

I really enjoyed watching the show, and although I haven't seen the ending yet, thus far I have really enjoyed the realistic approach to this girls life.

It gave me a feeling comparable to the later seasons of house of cards, or maybe even Mr. Robot, the same dawning, almost depressing, but realistic approach, that, although not everything goes well and ends positively, creates a situation where one can really understand and feel the position the character is in.

The show is delivered in a cold, unemotional manner that sets the tone. It seems similar to Mr. Robot and American Psycho in a lot of ways. People going through motions of life but mainly pretending. There is no intro for the show - the episodes start and eventually the title of the show displays on screen.

Christine is a law student and dresses in boring and mundane business attire, has basic professional hair, and seems pretty boring. You can tell she is intelligent however.

From the first sex scene we see the lead character's need and desire for control. Control of men, control of situations, and control of opportunity. What follows is the delving into the world of sex for hire, and beyond that a "Girlfriend" experience. Christine dives into this secretive world with both feet and develops an persona named "Chelsea". Chelsea is beautiful with long flowing hair, is feminine, attractive, well dressed, and poised; almost a counterpart to her day to day self. Her clients get to feel that they are important and cared for in her presence. For her it is an act. She is always on top; in the bedroom and in the relationship. She takes notes to remember small details of her clients, she edits her words and reactions to her client's wishes.

We see the main character position herself to always profit in some way in her interactions. In reality she is cold, distant, and calculating. How far will she go? How deep will she sink to get what she wants? What will the ultimate price be?

I've only seen 4 episodes of the season but it shows great promise. It may not live up to expectations in the end but I hope it does.

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.

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.

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.