What was in the package? - The Girlfriend Experience (2009) Discussion

[–] HGBlob 15 years ago

I wondered that myself... I thought maybe it was the painting they liked at the gallery....?

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[–] zyx769 15 years ago

I'm pretty sure the picture from the art gallery was in the package. (If I'm wrong, I look forward to being told what it really was -- I can't think what else it would be.)

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[–] gargamel-8 15 years ago

Its the picture from the art gallery.

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[–] jimmiescoffee 15 years ago

so the dude who stood her up bought her the painting as sort of an apology?

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[–] Phil212 15 years ago

No, it was before he stood her up. She hadn't gone for the weekend yet, and thus left her boyfriend.

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[–] symmachos 15 years ago

I agree that it was the drawing from the gallery (same size, and we get a flashback to the gallery scene right as Chelsea opens it), but I think she receives it after the client stood her up, not before.

At least, the package arrives right before Chris leaves for Vegas, and then Chelsea comes home some time later and finds it on the counter where he put it. But because the film is purposely edited out of chronological order, it's hard to be sure. Maybe the key to the chronology is keeping track of exactly what Chelsea is wearing in a scene, since her clothes get a lot of attention in the mise en scene (as the cinephiles say).

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[–] pbfleet2 15 years ago

I'm as positive as I can be without visual confirmation that it was the crown drawing from the gallery. The flashback to the gallery as she opens it was one of the only 'hit-you-over-the-head' scenes of the GF Experience.

I also agree with symmachos, C's clothes are how I (attempted) to track the timelineof the movie. Couldn't help thinking of Ellis's American Psycho during her voice-overs recapping her attire to the author gent.

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[–] Michael Fargo 15 years ago

"The book" is one of Christine's projects to make money. I thought it was both what she and the journalist were working towards as well as her diary that was in the voice overs. I thought she was working towards a best-seller on her lifestyle.

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[–] curiousgenius 15 years ago

I thought it was the art work on the wall in the gallery. The curator said it was "crown like". My impression was this client bought it for her and they arranged for it to be delivered to her apartment, before he asked and she decided to go out of town for the weekend. Her ambition is a part of her character and him buying this piece for her no doubt figured more heavily into falling for him than she wanted to admit to herself. Her web site, her desire to have a boutique clothing store, her talking to the reporter, her meeting with and having sex with the erotic review guy, are all about her trying to up her game. She is ambitious. She wants the lifestyle her clients have, and she would like to live that way all the time without having to work as an escort. Becoming the wife of one of her clients would also achieve that. That idea was somewhere in her mind before she met this client and that is why she was willing to trash her year and a half with Chris for a weekend with a guy she just met. The books are part her desire to believe fairy tales can happen in the real world.

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[–] Shalomp 15 years ago

i think the package might have been one of those "astrology" books that she reads and seeks her answers from. i think chris bought one and left it on the counter top as a sign that the relationship is over. remember that huge argument they had over her being missing for almost a day and how the things her books say are not real? which leads me to believe that both of them have broken up.

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[–] jcnsoflorida 14 years ago

It's a mystery. I too thought it might be the artwork but if you look closely when she opens it there's a tiny glimpse of something booklike. Bottom line: I don't know. But I like the movie quite a bit.

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[–] mettallmk 12 years ago

Dildos

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[–] jcnsoflorida 12 years ago

Soderbergh is teasing us all, successfully.
CuriousG is right about her ambition.
If they had double-features anymore, this would go nicely with Black Swan.

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[–] earlogistix 12 years ago

Am I alone in thinking that it looked like a screenplay? That led me to believe that it was a screenplay by the writer guy (perhaps he was only with her as research).

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[–] jcnsoflorida 12 years ago

I think writer guy is a journalist. I didn't have the impression he was writing a screenplay. But that's a better answer than dildos which are totally the wrong shape for the package. I was fairly sure it was the artwork, given to our heroine by the guy (screenwriter!) who proposed the upstate weekend fling, but then it looked bookish. I think she only 'knew' screenwriter guy for a very short time. Only Soderburgh knows for sure, and I respect that, really, totally.

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[–] IaintYourMomma 11 years ago

I thought it was her "books" in the package, being returned (which she was trying to sell)...meaning that she has to continue with her "business".....which she does.

"I've got so many complexes."
"No, you don't honey. It's all in you head."

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[–] THEORIGINALcatchfraze 8 years ago

It was Gweneth Paltrow's severed head.

"Throughout history every mystery ever solved has turned out to be....NOT magic." -Tim Minchin

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[–] outsider-2 8 years ago

A box of qtips

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