Claire Denis’ 35 Shots of Rum opens with pensive shots of slow moving trains. We see them glide along sunlit rails and disappear beneath dark tunnels – only to appear again moments later to the daylight. There is a rhythm of light and dark, actively driving and then passively watching. In this rhythm, we are introduced to Lionel (Alex Descas), a working-class train conductor and his college-aged daughter, Joséphine (Mati Diop), as Lionel’s workday ends and he arrives home for dinner.

Chelsea's pair of dark shades looks perfect with her hip-hugging skirt and sleek top. The pink of her lip-gloss glistens the way her silkily straight hair shines. Not only is she sexy and beautiful, she is refined and graceful. Look how she listens, talks, chews her food. She would be the perfect girlfriend for anyone. And for anyone willing to pay, she is.

Chelsea (who sometimes goes by Christine) is the high-end NYC escort in Steven Soderbergh's The Girlfriend Experience, the story of a classy prostitute who offers the city's most moneyed individuals both physical pleasure and intimacy (or pretensions thereof). Soderbergh has dealt with the subject of sex before, most notably in his explosive and in-your-face Sex, Lies and Videotape (1989), but this time he takes a slower, more methodical approach and in doing so fashions something even more sensual.