The first season for The Girlfriend Experience on STARZ has now been released on Blu-ray/DVD and very good acting, direction and filming has made it worth watching. If you have not seen the series or would like to relive it, then pick up a copy today where you purchase videos. The drama has a lot of twists, “pushes the envelope” in several episodes and intrigue even in its most provocative and twisted season finale.
Entering her second year at Law School, Christine Reade takes an internship at Kirkland one of the best law firms in Chicago. Assigned to firm partner David Tellis (Paul Sparks) and under the thumb of his assistant Susan King (Briony Glassco), she starts to get a handle on her duties. Mostly avoiding Erin Roberts (Mary Lynn Rajskub) a lawyer with the firm who’s quickly making her way to the top, she works her abilities to the bone, easily being accepted by her boss for her competence.
In the opening scene however, we find Christine visiting best friend Avery (Kate Lyn Sheil) who works on the side as an escort offering a “Girlfriend Experience” for a huge amount of cash. Lacking the excitement due to her demanding job, Christine decides to take on the challenge that Avery found stimulating and monetarily rewarding. Now with a nice apartment, an inside internship at a big law firm and freedom to have a thrilling sexual experience on her terms, Christine, using the name Ashley, becomes a “girlfriend”.
Directors and writers Lodge Kerrigan and Amy Seimetz work the thirteen episodes crafting a soft porn look at the business of delivering sex to clients, while Christine builds a career in the real world. Openly sensual and provocative, the series subsists on hoping for a voyeuristic audience that will tune in each week. Adding the intrigue connected with her job at the law firm, each of the episodes have a continuous theme that plays out with the good cast making it work.
The cast is the key to its success, giving excellent performances all around. While it’s more than just a display of nudity and various sexual activities, the series does seem to wear on ones libido as the latter of the 13 episodes play out. After all, the series isn’t pushing a side job as a way for women or even men to fill their coffers. Although you may get the feeling that the show’s no more than a sensual simulating fantasy.
Putting herself out there, Riley Keough does an excellent job performing in the lead role of Christine/Ashley. She does have the look of a Kristin Stewart and also her demeanor however, but Stewart doesn’t hold a candle to Keough’s performance here. Keough may have been chosen for her experience in films like the lesbian themed Jack and Diane, a wild twenty-something in Dixieland, and opposite Charlez Theron as Capable, one of Furiosa’s wanton girls in Mad Max: Fury Road. The actress has talent and will find her way back to the big screen sometime soon.
BONUS EXTRAS
“The Girlfriend Experience” has three fairly good very short features.
“An Inside Look” the short features writer/directors Amy Seimetz and Lodge Kerrigan with actors Mary Lynn Rajskub, Kate Lyn Sheil and Paul Sparks as they explain the plot of “The Girlfriend Experience”.
“What is The Girlfriend Experience” has Riley Keough, Kate Lyn Sheil and Amy Seimetz explaining what a GFE is and the relevance to the series.
“The Look of the Girlfriend Experience” features Keough, Kerrigan, Seimetz and Sheil giving the ins and outs of making the film including cinematography, focusing in on the subject of the film and the male and female experience.
“The Girlfriend Experience” has been rated TV-MA and contains explicit sex, nudity, rude and abusive language and no consequence for the prostitution. It plays out in 13 thirty minute episodes without commercial interruption. The series has be green lighted for another season.
FINAL ANALYSIS: A tantalizing series wins with acting and a daring script. (B-)
Specifications and additional video information:
Cast: Riley Keough, Mary Lynn Rajskub , Kate Lyn Sheil , Paul Sparks
Created and Directed by: Lodge Kerrigan, Amy Seimetz
TV Rating: Nudity, Language, Sex
Genre: Drama, Law, Thriller
Running Time: 359 minutes
Original Cable Release Date: Weekly April 10 to June 19, 2016
Video Release Date: August 2, 2016
Language: English (changeable to Spanish dubbed)
Reviewed Format: Blu-ray (also available in DVD)
Audio: Dolby TrueHD 7.1
Video: Widescreen TV Aspect Ratio 1.78:1
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
Number of Discs: 2 discs
Distributed by: Anchor Bay Entertainment
Writer, critic, film editor John Delia, Sr. has been on all sides of the movie business from publications to film making. He has worked as a film critic with ACED Magazine for more than 20 years and other publications for a total of 40 years. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Florida. John is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association and Critics Association of Central Florida Send John a message at jdelia@acedmagazine.com
