The Center of the World

A couple checks into a hotel suite in Las Vegas. Flashbacks show that he's a computer whiz on the verge of becoming a dot-com millionaire. She's a lap dancer at a club. He's depressed, withdrawing from work, missing meetings with investors. He wants a connection, so he offers her $10,000 to spend three nights with him in Vegas. She accepts with conditions: four hours per night of erotic play, and no penetration.

During the days in Vegas, they get to know each other, have fun, and meet a friend of hers, casino dealer Jerri. After the first night, things get complicated. When the three days are over, the stripper makes it clear that she is only there for the money and that the man she spends the time with is just a client. Upset that his feelings aren't reciprocated, he rapes her; she makes no attempt to stop him. She then masturbates for him, achieving orgasm, saying "you want to see real? I'll show you real." The next day he returns home heartbroken.

The movie ends with his return to the strip club to see the woman he fell in love with again. She greets him fondly but interacts with him the way she had when they first met: as a stripper and a client ordering a lap dance. Because the movie is shown in non sequential order, it is up to the viewer to decide when the interaction at the strip club occurred. One could believe it happened before their time together in Las Vegas, implying that their relationship ended after three days, or one could believe that the interaction at the strip club occurred after their three days in Las Vegas, implying that they rekindled their relationship and started anew.

In January 2000, Wayne Wang announced plans to direct The Center of the World for Artisan Entertainment.^[3] Wang said he "wanted to make a really erotic film about sex and love, that could be like ‘The Last Tango in Paris’ for a younger generation. I wanted to do a movie about this young generation of guys who are dealing with the Internet, software and day-trading; this whole new world out there where they’re making shitloads of money fast, and not knowing what their lives are about yet besides that money and easy pleasures."^[3] Wang chose to shoot the film on digital video, saying "I’ve seen the way the stuff is shot and transferred, and it looks beautiful and interesting in its own way. It’s also flexible, fast and cheaper."^[3]

When Wang initially committed to the project, he was at a loss as to what to write for the script. He sought assistance from previous collaborator Paul Auster; Siri Hustvedt, Auster’s wife, and Miranda July.^[3] Hustvedt had written extensively on the subjects of sex and feminism, while July had experience in striptease and dancing.^[4] Wang drew inspiration from Nan Goldin's photography when envisioning the look of the film.^[4] The screenplay was credited to "Ellen Benjamin Wong", a joint pseudonym for Wang, Auster, and Hustvedt.^[5][6] Internet executive Jason Calacanis appeared in and acted as an advisor for the film.^[4]

Wang chose to set the story in Las Vegas because it is a symbolic "fantasyland" of a place.^[4] More traditional film cameras were used at the beginning and end of the story, while Wang used the grainier look of a Sony DRV-100^{[disputed – discuss]} for the rest of the film to illustrate the "deterioration of [the characters'] relationship."^[4] Scenes requiring nudity from the characters were performed by body doubles.^[4]

The film's title may be an allusion to Courbet's L'Origine du monde.^[7]