If you are looking for a big budget, Hollywood style film, you are out of luck. If you are looking for a big budget, Michael Moore style documentary, try again. There are no real action scenes, no real dramatic build ups to an exciting climax. This is exactly what it is supposed to be, a thoughtful documentary focusing on the part of an underground business and addiction that no one has tried to achieve before.The first time I saw this movie I had the benefit of watching it with one of the actresses, who clearly explained to me before and during what the director was trying to do.The next time I watched it, I tried to view it as a regular documentary and at that I think it did a great job, though I may still have been a little biased due to the first viewing.Now, reading the Directors comments, it all makes perfect sense and I realize just how well done this movie really is. She really worked at making you see GFE from the John's perspective, not just from the prostitutes as most movies will do.The movie itself is well shot and I did not see any really poor acting. Quite the opposite, it all felt real and yet not quite at the same time. Truly well done and I believe the director achieved the tone and style she was trying to create.

So this is basically a fake documentary about guys who regularly see prostitutes and imagine them being girlfriends.Could be interesting, but somehow it isn't.I didn't like this movie. All action is filmed in a dull and uninteresting way. When the women talk, you can barely hear it because they purposely (what purpose?) quieted down their voices. In many scenes there is a flashing subtitle that reads "re-enactment" - that puts the final nail in the coffin of what is this movie's believability. Why should you engage your fantasy in something that doesn't even claim to be the real thing?The movie also has a continuous undercurrent of sadness. That is maybe related to the fact that prostitution is illegal in the US (an absurd state of affairs to be sure). Or the un-reality of the imagined girlfriend experience. But none of these things really explains it. Apparently the director chose to make a sad movie for unknown personal reasons.{SPOILER AHEAD - although it doesn't matter much if anything is spoiled because there is no tension anyway}The movie also ends sadly, with the client being arrested by undercover officers for seeing the prostitute who claims to be underage. Maybe that is the movie's message?But then, what is the message? The movie stays strangely detached from all that happens and you never really know what it's trying to say. I don't know. I feel cheated and I don't want to watch this ever again. There isn't even any wisdom or anything surprising in what the guys say - and they basically talk all the time.Nah. This movie isn't even a turn-on.I'll give it a 2 for the fairly original concept. And for making a movie at all. But give us something enjoyable next time, please.

Intelligent creation by an up and coming independent film maker.Pietrobruno's creation gives a unique perspective to the sometimes mystifying 'relationship' between client and service provider. Specifically: Why do men, many successful and committed to friends and/or family, seek out the 'Girlfriend Experience'?Thought provoking, honest and beautifully shot, GFE is for a small audience not bored by cerebral and visceral participation with the film's characters and story, reminiscent of the early work of the indie pioneer, John Sayles.We look forward to future projects from this brilliant Vancouver, BC based director and writer.

I researched this film by conducting interviews with johns. What struck me is what regular guys they are – dads, husbands, brothers, boyfriends, buddies, sons. Very nice guys. Because I did not want to vilify or stereotype the client, I decided that the client in Girlfriend Experience had to be the 'guy next door'.During the shoot, I was worried that my decision not to reveal the sex-worker Adrian's face or voice would end-up being a grave mistake but I intentionally wanted Adrian to be non- existent, in order to emphasize that the prostitute does not exist. Prostitution is about male sexuality, not female sexuality. It's all about the guy, not about the girl.What fascinates me about the phenomena of the GFE is how the client can fully enjoy the illusion of realness, while still being fully aware that it is fake. When the sex-worker Adrian says, "I love you", Daniel knows that "it's bullshit, but who cares? GFE makes us feel good". I admire that kind of imaginative complexity.Girlfriend Experience's film style mimics the style of a GFE encounter, in that the film does not try to be convincing real; instead, the film uses cinematic codes to tease and taunt with the charade of realism. Like the GFE provider and buyer, the filmmaker and viewer are conscious of the film's simulation of authenticity, complicit in the entanglement of illusion and reality. And hopefully enjoying it!