Back in the early ’90s, filmmaker Sook-Yin Lee dated Canadian cartoonist Chester Brown for several years. While still good friends, the dissolution of that relationship eventually led Brown to explore sexual encounters without emotional attachments. Finding a newfound sense of freedom through the companionship of sex workers, the cartoonist documented his experiences in his 2011 autobiographical graphic novel Paying for It.
Considering her proximity to that time in Brown’s life, it is oddly fitting that it is Lee who helms the cinematic adaption of Brown’s controversial work. In Lee’s skilled hands, Paying for It becomes more than a mere tale of sexual conquest, but rather an honest examination of sex work, human connections, and what it means to truly live life on one’s own terms.
The candle lighting the path of self-discovery in the film adaptation is not initially lit by Chester (Daniel Beirne), but rather by his partner Sonny (Emily Lê), who is essentially a fictional version of Lee. Abruptly declaring that she is falling for someone else, Sonny is eager to explore these feelings via having an open relationship. The declaration catches the artist off guard as, by all accounts, their life together seems to be going well. She has a successful job as a television host on the popular Max Music, a clear nod to Lee’s own MuchMusic video jockey days, and he is working on a cartoon series about Louis Riel.
The idea that the parameters of their union are about to be reassembled like a Rubik’s Cube takes some getting used to for the artist. However, his love for her is so strong that Chester refuses to throw kerosine on it and set it a blaze.
Moving to the basement while she brings her new beau Miles (Ehren Kassam) over, it takes a while before Chester decides to start having his own needs tended to. Making the bold step to explore the world of escorts, his decision to set sail just happens to coincide with Sonny’s relationship with Mile’s hitting rough waters.
In following the diverging streams Chester and Sonny find themselves in, Paying for It weaves a humorous portrait of human bonds in all their awkward glory. Lee’s film challenges conventional notions of relationships by showing that they evolve in unpredictable ways. While Chester and Sonny seem to fit together, the puzzle board of life is in constant flux, bending their once familiar shapes into something new.
While Sonny tries desperately to exert control over her various relationships, even setting rules for Chester to adhere to on his own journey, her firm grip cannot stop their worlds from spinning in new directions. Even Chester finds that no-strings attached encounters eventually need some rope to anchor it to something more stable. Lee shows that the need to connect on a meaningful level is still the foundation all relationships are built on, be it friendship or something more intimate.
These bonds can even be found in relationships that feature an associated transactional aspect. One of the joys of Paying for It is the ways it humanizes sex workers and re-contextualizes the nature of their work. The sex workers in the film are portrayed more than mere objects for Chester’s desires, but rather real people whose bonds with clients run the gambit from transactional to something deeper. The best exemplification of this is the bond the cartoonist shares with Yulissa (Andrea Werhun).
Flirting with the notion that Yulissa might be the perfect match Chester, Lee’s film does not delve too deeply into the intersection between monogamy and paying for sex. Instead, the filmmaker is more interested in exploring the contours that shape the unexpected bonds people find themselves forming.
Wrapping all the various connections in a simple but effective aesthetic, Lee’s film truly feels like a graphic novel come to life. One could easily see the film playing in a double bill alongside Terry Zwigoff’s Ghost World or even, to a certain extent, Kevin Smith’s Chasing Amy, which also involves a cartoonist who finds himself in a complicated relationship. Make no mistake though, Lee crafts a film that stands firmly on its own richly constructed merits. Whether finding humour in each new encounter Chester has with a sex worker, or observing the sparks that ignite Sonny’s passion for her new lovers, each section of the film feels fully realized.
An entertaining journey into sexual liberation and unconventional relationships, and Lee’s most assured film to date, Paying for It is money well spent.
