Portrait of a Call Girl


Portrait of a Call Girl is a 2011 American pornographic film starring Jessie Andrews, and directed and written by Graham Travis. In 2012, the film received 19 nominations for both creative and technical awards, winning four AVN Awards for best actress, best director, best feature and the AVN's first Movie of the Year award; one XRCO Award for best epic; and six XBIZ Awards for acting performance of the year – female, best cinematography, best non-sex acting performance of the year, director of the year – individual project, and feature movie of the year.

Release

The film was released as a two-DVD set on August 26, 2011. The first DVD included several special features including a behind-the-scenes featurette, slide show, outtakes, a bonus scene promo teaser and interviews. The second DVD offered a 79:29-minute feature only version, minus any hardcore scenes.

Reception

Critical reviews of Portrait of a Call Girl were mostly favorable, with others acknowledging disappointments. The film received recognition and nominations for editing, art direction, and cinematography. The XBIX Awards honored Mason, Carlos Dee and Alex Ladd with the nod for cinematography, with Travis being honored by both XBIZ and the AVN Awards for Director of the Year for Individual Project and Feature Film, respectively.
Online reviewers Sean DPS and Don Houston of XCritic.com both give the project the site's highest rating of "XCritic Pick" for the Blu-ray and DVD versions of the film. Houston compared the film with selected films touring independent film festivals and director Travis to mainstream director, Steven Soderbergh and his film The Girlfriend Experience. Gram Ponante of fleshbot.com describes the project as a "mainstream film that happens to have sex in it".
Sex and the 405 agreed with Ponante's assessment that the film is "thoughtfully acted, beautifully shot, and sparsely, elegantly orchestrated", yet faulting the script for "tired cliches" including childhood sexual abuse, self-loathing, self-destruction through involvement in the sex industry, and subconsciously crying out for a savior. Sex and the 405 expressed criticism of the fact that professionals from the adult film industry, which operated on the legal side of the fence, would present a film focusing on the illegal branch of the sex industry, the film industry's "marginalized twin". The web site summarized their review stating, "If didn't perpetuate so many stereotypes about prostitution, we'd be tempted to thank the studio for keeping it real — ish. But its problems are a little too big to ignore."

Awards and nominations

CeremonyCategoryRecipientResult
AVN AwardsBest actressJessie Andrews
AVN AwardsBest director – featureGraham Travis
AVN AwardsBest feature
AVN AwardsMovie of the year
AVN AwardsBest boy / girl sex sceneJessie Andrews and Manuel Ferrara
AVN AwardsBest cinematographyMason, Carlos Dee and Alex Ladd
AVN AwardsBest DVD extras
AVN AwardsBest editingGraham Travis
AVN AwardsBest oral sex sceneJessie Andrews
AVN AwardsBest screenplayGraham Travis
AVN AwardsBest three-way sex scene Jessie Andrews, Mick Blue and Ramon Namor
XBIZ AwardsFeature movie of the year
XBIZ AwardsDirector of the year – individual projectGraham Travis
XBIZ AwardsActing performance of the year – femaleJessie Andrews
XBIZ AwardsNon-sex acting performance of the yearAlec Knight
XBIZ AwardsNon-sex acting performance of the yearEric Swiss
XBIZ AwardsScreenplay of the yearGraham Travis
XBIZ AwardsBest cinematographyMason, Carlos Dee and Alex Ladd
XBIZ AwardsBest art direction
XBIZ AwardsBest editingGraham Travis
XRCO AwardsBest epic