|
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION | ||
|
Positive:
32
Mixed:
7
Negative:
0
|
Watch Now
| Buy on |
|
Critic Reviews
Apr 8, 2016
Season 1 Review:
I think it’s easily one of the best shows of the year, and a major work by everyone involved, for reasons that I’ll allude to momentarily--though not in detail, because The Girlfriend Experience is actually four or five shows rolled into one, and a big part of its specialness resides in those moments where it morphs from one thing into another.
Read full review
Apr 4, 2016
Season 1 Review:
The performances are extraordinary, in spite of the fact the characters are all very similar--detached from emotion, honesty, sadness, shame and even desire by the airlessness of contemporary life. ... The Girlfriend Experience is one of the best new series of the young year.
Read full review
IndieWireApr 11, 2016
Mar 28, 2016
Nov 2, 2017
Season 2 Review:
Altogether, the second season of The Girlfriend Experience is knottier and more surprising, though somewhat less satisfying, than the first. But this is the sort of experimentation and inconsistency that push television beyond the dictates of delivering narrative by the yard.
Read full review
The PlaylistMar 22, 2021
IndieWireMar 17, 2021
Season 3 Review:
After such a small sample size (just two episodes out of 10), plenty of questions remain, many of which feel purposeful. ... Season 3 is meticulous in its construction, and the extra outdoor scenes or limited physical contact [due to COVID-friendly shooting requirements] aren’t distractions. They add to the story Marquardt is telling. ... In Season 3, Iris seems to be looking for more, and for now, I think audiences can expect more in return.
Read full review
Apr 4, 2016
Season 1 Review:
The viewer’s feelings toward Christine and her behavior are likely to remain unresolved--but Kerrigan and Seimetz’s refusal to psychologically and morally pin her down is exactly what makes The Girlfriend Experience, in its pungently moody and disturbing way, ultimately difficult to shake off.
Read full review
The Daily BeastMay 3, 2021
Season 3 Review:
The Girlfriend Experience is an efficient and confident affair, with little excess fat found on any of its half-hour episodes. ... As Iris, Telles strikes an unnerving balance between formidable intellectual and conniving predator. ... Like the show itself, there are layers to Iris that are difficult to pin down, but fascinating to ponder.
Read full review
Apr 11, 2016
Season 1 Review:
There are lots of juicy twists and some melodramatic intrigue, and Kerrigan and Seimetz execute them with nicely chilly precision. But The Girlfriend Experience is at its best when it puts aside plot machinations to deliver a sympathetic but clear-eyed portrait of a woman discovering herself.
Read full review
Apr 11, 2016
Season 1 Review:
Keough’s Christine is fascinatingly inscrutable, and the 26-year-old actress (Elvis’s granddaughter, incidentally) carries the series with her chilly poise and enigmatic composure. The show, written and directed by Amy Seimetz and Lodge Kerrigan, offers no exposition whatsoever, rather following Christine from scene to scene and only occasionally abandoning her when plot necessitates it.
Read full review
RogerEbert.comApr 7, 2016
Mar 30, 2016
Season 1 Review:
Keough's outstanding performance makes the whole thing work, make no mistake. But Kerrigan, Seimetz and Meizler weave a visually evocative backdrop, using only natural light, location-based shooting and a color scheme that allows for the intimacy of the writing to come out and help shape things.
Read full review
Apr 29, 2021
Season 3 Review:
The Girlfriend Experience season three may a bit too moody or rely too heavily on tech talk, or just not feature enough sex, for viewers (let alone fans of the show). But what this particular narrative does do well is show Iris’ use of each encounter to carefully study human emotion in a way that’s not been seen before.
Read full review
Apr 7, 2016
Season 1 Review:
The Girlfriend Experience proves more interesting than engrossing, perhaps because there doesn’t seem to be a single character willing to raise his or her voice above library-corridor volume, connect in any way that’s not ultimately about money or power, or overtly express the possible negative side effects of selling your body for cash.
Read full review
RogerEbert.comApr 30, 2021
Season 3 Review:
This year’s story may be its most ambitious, even if it sometimes succumbs to overwriting and pretentious filmmaking choices in early episodes just before building up steam at the point Starz decided to stop sending episodes (so I can’t say how successfully it connects its many ideas). Having said that, it’s never boring, even if I’m not sure yet if I buy all of what it’s selling.
Read full review
Apr 14, 2016
Season 1 Review:
Her initial escapades feel overwhelmingly dour, a byproduct of stilted, emotionless dialogue. Keough plays her role with an almost impenetrable detachment that frustrates at first, but feels necessary in retrospect. ... Things start to get more interesting when Christine learns that one of her wealthy clients has kicked the bucket and left her a large sum of money, setting off alarm bells for the client’s family.
Read full review
Mar 30, 2016
Season 1 Review:
At first, the show feels a trifle frustrating, inasmuch as Christine dives into this strange new world without divulging almost anything about who she is, or wants to be. ... Gradually, though, that becomes its own kind of mystery, and helps foster a pervasive sense of unease, one that makes this Experience feel far more ambitious than something like Showtime’s “The Secret Diary of a Call Girl.”
Read full review
Nov 6, 2017
Season 2 Review:
The two halves have wildly different strengths. “Bria” is cinematically stunning, with a few sequences that are going to be hard to forget anytime soon. “Erica & Anna” is a much more straightforward story, with a chilly aesthetic that makes “House of Cards” look upbeat. But the relative opacity of “Bria’s” story beats — and the oddly pat metaphors of “Erica & Anna”--left me with the wish that these two well-matched directors might, you know, collaborate.
Read full review
Apr 8, 2016
Season 1 Review:
The Girlfriend Experience, which is so sedate, chilly, and light on incident that it would be unbearable to watch one episode a week (or, in its first weekend, two), with not enough of a hook to pull the viewer back for a new half-hour after a seven day break. Watched in chunks, though, it can be more absorbing, thanks to Riley Keough's lead performance as Christine Reade, a Chicago law student moonlighting as an escort, and thanks to the anthropological tone created by Amy Seimetz and Lodge Kerrigan, who co-write every episode and take turns directing them.
Read full review
Current TV Shows
By MetascoreBy User Score