Paying for It

The couple Chester and Sonny have been together for years. One day, Sonny reveals that she has started to develop feelings for someone else. They agree to stay together in an open relationship, but their bond gradually becomes more platonic. While Sonny searches for true love, Chester realizes he isn’t particularly interested in romance but misses the physical connection he shared with Sonny. His solution is simple: he starts seeking out sex workers.

In 2011, cartoonist Chester Brown released Paying for It, a work chronicling his experiences as a buyer of sexual services. His life as a sex buyer began in the aftermath of his breakup with multidisciplinary artist Sook-Yin Lee, who remains his last conventional romantic partner to this day. This film is directed by none other than Sook-Yin Lee herself.

While the graphic novel was a deeply personal, autobiographical account of Brown’s life after the breakup, the film adaptation offers a humorous, understated, and explicit portrayal of both Brown’s and Lee’s sexual and romantic experiences following their split.