Documenting the way we speak now, however, doesn't compensate for the film's own hollow rhetoric; TGE's tricked-out, fractured narrative merely distracts from its dead-end cynicism.

We also find ourselves wondering about the real Chelsea, but Grey plays her as such a chic, chameleonlike enigma, she remains beyond our grasp. It's all part of the game: enticing but frustrating, the ultimate tease.

The Girlfriend Experience proves that a visually striking film can be made on the fly. But grab-and-run is a more fruitful strategy for images than scripts.

In her first mainstream picture, adult film star Sasha Grey is appropriately enigmatic and alluring, if not a little stiff.