The Honest Courtesan

For quite some time, Canadian actress and director Sook-Yin Lee worked to get a film made of Paying For It, Chester Brown’s graphic-novel memoir of seeing sex workers on a regular basis after the breakup of his real-life romantic relationship with Lee.  A couple of years ago she managed to make a deal with a production company, and the film is now finished; it will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 6th.  Chester is played by Dan Beirne and Sook-Yin’s alter ego “Sonny” by Emily Lê; real-life sex worker Andrea Werhun plays Chester’s long-time favorite Denise.  Chester doesn’t know when or how (theaters? Netflix?) the film will be shown in the US, and there’s no poster yet because apparently the producers have not been clear about whether they want Chester to do the poster or if they’re doing it some other way.  However, there’s a new movie edition of the book, whose cover is pictured here; the girl is based on the actress who plays the first pro Chester sees.  I’m looking forward to seeing the film when it becomes available on DVD, and I really hope it’s successful, not only because it will mean more money for Chester, but also because I’m happy for anything that helps normalize pragmatic sexual relationships.