Review: 'The Girlfriend Experience'

Years ago I ran into an old girlfriend of mine when I was visiting Los Angeles. When I knew her, she was a talented but struggling actress. But I scarcely recognized that apple-cheeked woman in the highly polished goddess I met unexpectedly that night. Have you ever seen those highly-organized photos of Taylor Swift that make her look so perfect and shiny that she almost seems like she's made out of nothing but cotton candy photoshopped into human form? This is the way Agnetha appeared as she walked across the room. 

She was stunning. Perfect. Every movement optimized for maximum effect, every comment practiced and efficient. She had remade herself into the perfect date, the woman that would appeal to that certain type of man who is both powerful and yet insecure. Agnetha had become a professional companion to powerful men, primarily Hollywood executives. She had channeled her career frustrations into a job in which she could control every aspect of her life. She manipulated men for a living and having that power turned out to be much more satisfying to her than being a mere actress.

And yet there was something supremely sad and bittersweet about her as well. That formerly loving and carefree actress I knew now saw the world as nothing but a series of transactions. Every move was the result of an exchange of value. Every action had to have some sort of commercial motive attached to it. Living that way can be liberating, but it's also a soulless existence. It means that you can never really have friends. You can never really love someone because doing that would require you believing that another person could love you without reservation. Could care for you without expecting something in return.

I thought about Agentha and that night a lot as I was watching The Girlfriend Experience, the new drama premiering on Starz on Sunday. In it, Riley Keough plays Christine Reade, a young intern at a law firm who turns office frustrations into a new career as a professional girlfriend to the rich and powerful.

Keough is perfectly suited for the role. Her persona evolves into this shiny, optimal example of a woman and it's easy to see why any man would pay thousands of dollars just to have her on his arm. The series is about sex - of course - but it also concerns itself with the consequences of a life filled with transnational experiences.

Starz is making the entire 13-episode season available to subscribers once the premiere airs and it's a show that is well-suited to bingeing. It has a shimmery, ethereal feel to it and it's easy to get caught up in the empty glamour of her life. And yet, once it's over it's hard to take much away from The Girlfriend Experience. The show accurately portrays that specific type of life and Keough is transcendent in every scene. But the show also suffers from the same problems faced by anyone living the lifestyle of a professional girlfriend. In the end, nothing has real value or worth. So it's difficult to learn anything from the experience other than the cold joy of the situation's artifice.

The Girlfriend Experience is worth watching just to bask in Keough's empty passion. But I'm not sure it's worth prioritizing ahead of other shows that are more emotionally engaging and real.

The Girlfriend Experience premieres on Starz on Sunday, April 10th, 2016.