The way technology has affected relationships, dating, and sex in the modern world is fairly commonplace today. Sci-fi obviously has lots of dystopian ways of commenting on this too (see the psychological submissive girl robot fetishization archetype in “Ex Machina”).
However, the way technology has affected the transactional nature of sex is still pretty limited on-screen, surprisingly given the world of cam girls, OnlyFans, Tinder, Grindr, Patreon, and the general easy-access and ubiquity of online sex. Yes, there are films like “Cam,” “PVT Chat,” “Beach Rats” and more, but rarely has there been something as future-forward as the third season of “The Girlfriend Experience,” which looks at sex and its negotiable nature through predictive behavior, neuroscience and cutting edge A.I. technology.
Based on Steven Soderbergh’s 2009 film, “The Girlfriend Experience” (he’s the executive producer of the show who spun it off into the hands of new filmmakers to riff on the original idea), ‘The GFE’ centered around the idea of high-end escorts specializing in providing “the girlfriend experience” (GFE), a more premium and exclusive service of sexual, but also emotional satisfaction. Seasons 1 and 2 (expertly created, written, and directed by Lodge Kerrigan and Amy Seimetz), pushed the envelope of the original idea, playing with notions of control, submission, power, identity, toying with settings of corruption and Witness Protection Programs, and certainly pushing the boundaries of cinematic storytelling on television (these shows were incredibly told from a visual perspective, some of the best shows of the last ten years, easily).
However, Season 3, created, written, and directed by Anja Marquardt (“She’s Lost Control”), is probably its most conceptually bold one so far, playing on the bleeding edge of A.I. science, technology, and how it applies to behavior and sex. It’s heady and cerebral stuff, a little mystifying and elusive too (this is a show you have to pay strict attention to), but it’s rewarding and super intriguing too (at least so far, with the two episodes given to press for the SXSW Film Festival).
‘GFE 3’ centers on Iris (Julia Goldani Telles, that some may know from “The Affair”), a 20-something American girl looking to radically reboot her life, following signs of an onset-Alzheimers-like analysis and finding about her father (he’s suffering from something, but they’re unclear what the prognosis is exactly). With this uncertainty in the air—and leaving behind friends, family, and a half-finished neuroscience degree at an Ivy League university— Iris relocates to London after being headhunted by an elusive tech start-up called NGM. However, through a sophisticated cam model friend (Alexandra Daddario, who seems to only cameo briefly), before she leaves, she is introduced to The V, a high-end escort agency in the U.K.