A Love Story Told Sideways

Read Time:5 Minute, 17 Second

MOVIE REVIEW
Paying for It
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Genre: Drama, Comedy
Year Released: 2024, 2026
Runtime: 1h 25m
Director(s): Sook-Yin Lee
Writer(s): Sook-Yin Lee, Joanne Sarazen
Cast: Dan Beirne, Emily Lê, Andrea Werhun
Where to Watch: premieres in select theaters beginning January 30, 2026

RAVING REVIEW: What does intimacy look like when romance and sex stop meaning the same thing? PAYING FOR IT doesn’t pose that question as a provocation; it treats it as an inevitability. Set in the late 1990s, the film approaches non-monogamy, sex work, and emotional distance with a level of candor that feels rare, especially in a culture still trained to frame love as something that must follow a prescribed path to be considered valid.

The story follows Chester, an introverted cartoonist, and Sonny, his long-term partner, as their relationship shifts into unfamiliar territory. When Sonny suggests opening things up, the change exposes fault lines neither of them fully understands. Chester’s response is not to seek another romantic attachment, but to pursue paid intimacy, a choice that forces him to confront how he separates physical connection from emotional vulnerability. The film never sensationalizes this decision, nor does it rush to defend or condemn it. Instead, it observes patiently and without moral scaffolding.

Dan Beirne anchors the film with a performance built on restraint. Chester is socially withdrawn, deeply reflective, and often emotionally opaque, but never distant. Beirne understands that the character’s inner life is not something to be explained. Small gestures, pauses, and moments of hesitation do the heavy lifting, allowing Chester to feel real without being over-articulated. It’s a performance that rewards attention rather than demanding it.

Emily Lê’s Sonny provides the necessary counterbalance. She brings warmth, curiosity, and a restless energy to the role, capturing the contradictions of someone who wants both security and expansion. Sonny isn’t framed as a catalyst or obstacle; she is a person trying to understand her own needs as they evolve. The film allows her uncertainty to exist without punishment, which gives the relationship depth, something beyond the stereotypes of what the world says a relationship needs to be.

Andrea Werhun’s presence adds another essential dimension. Her portrayal of a sex worker Chester regularly sees is grounded, articulate, and self-possessed, refusing the reductive framing so often applied to similar characters. The film treats sex workers not as narrative devices but as people with agency, boundaries, and emotional intelligence. This perspective is not delivered as a lecture; it emerges organically through conversation and interaction, which makes it all the more effective. I would have liked to have seen Werhun’s character get a little more attention toward the end of the film to ground what she means in Chester’s world.

PAYING FOR IT is modest by design. The cinematography favors intimacy over stylization, keeping the camera close without becoming overly intrusive. Locations feel intentional and personal, reinforcing the sense that these lives exist beyond the frame. The editing allows scenes to breathe without overstaying their welcome. At 85 minutes, the film is tightly structured, and that restraint works in its favor. With that said, and without spoiling anything, I would absolutely be thrilled to see a sequel to this!

What may frustrate some viewers who want that next level of drama is the film’s refusal to dramatize conflict in traditional ways. There aren’t the expected explosive confrontations, no sweeping declarations, no forced resolutions. PAYING FOR IT understands that emotional change often happens through aggregation rather than fracture. The humor is similarly understated, arising from social awkwardness and misalignment rather than flat-out jokes. It’s funny because it’s honest, not because it’s trying to be.

The film’s greatest strength is its empathy. PAYING FOR IT never pretends that unconventional arrangements are easy, nor does it suggest they are inherently more enlightened than traditional ones. It simply acknowledges that people often build imperfect solutions to emotional problems, and that those solutions can still carry sincerity, caring, and meaning. The film trusts the audience to sit with ambiguity rather than demand closure.

There are moments when the dialogue leans heavily into introspection, and viewers expecting a fast-paced romcom may find the pacing deliberately slow to a fault. But that patience is key; it helps build the world we get to peek into. This is a film about listening, about observing how people talk around their feelings before they talk about them.

PAYING FOR IT isn’t interested in being universally relatable. By focusing on the specificity of experience rather than broad messaging, it achieves something lasting. It invites viewers to reconsider assumptions about intimacy, autonomy, and emotional labor without insisting that they reach the same conclusions as the characters.

In the end, PAYING FOR IT prevails because it treats its subject matter with maturity and trust. It doesn’t ask to be agreed with; it asks to be considered. That confidence, paired with strong performances and a clear authorial voice, makes it one of the more thoughtful relationship dramas in recent memory.

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