Sex, Lies, and Videotape | | Cast : | James Spader, Andie MacDowell | | Director : | Steven Soderbergh | | Studio : | Columbia/Tristar Studios | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Dolby, Widescreen | | Released Date : | August 18, 1989 | | DVD Released Date : | August 31, 2004 | | Language : | French (Dubbed), French (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), English (Original Language), Spanish (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | May 14, 2005 | | Summary | From Movie Stars to TV Stars | Content
 | I saw this movie years ago and forgot about it. I fially found it on Showtime On Demand Saturday May 14th 2005. It is amazing these people went from this sexual film noir to eventually do streamlined tv programs. James Spader now does Boston Legal. Peter Gallagher does the OC. Andie macDowell does lots of tv especially the Hallmark Movie with Rose Odonnell. And the San Giacomo chick has done sitcoms. I find the whole thing amazing!! |
| Rating | | | Date | May 12, 2005 | | Summary | Still a voyeur's delight | Content
| The name of this Cannes Film Festival award winner belies its age in the digital era. Still, this talky little film -- far more European than American -- seduces its audience with its gentle tales about people, their sexuality and, ultimately, their views of their own lives.
What I found most remarkable watching this film 16 years after its release is how potent is the "videotape" message in an era when people have trashed their video technology. Second most remarkable is how little Andie McDowell has aged in more than a decade and a half. The woman must have some of nature's best genes or one of Hollywood's best surgeons!
If you've never seen this talkfest, it involves the reunion of two old friends, nine years apart, that ignites a fuse of passion, understanding and exposure of lies, sex and emotions that distrubs the life of the four main participants -- a man, his disturbed wife, his mistress and the friend. These discoveries all revolve around the friend's impotence and its replacement, his involvement with videotape.
The aura of this film most reminds me of "The Swimming Pool", a more recent entrant in the drama-sexuality sweepstakes with an equally European feel. That movie was European, of course, but shares an aura and similar cinematic likeness to this one. While "sex, lies & videotape" is no mystery, it arrives at conclusions similar to those in "The Swimming Pool".
So watch this little movie to see how something seemingly based in yesterday's technolgoy can be germane to a new era of techheads. It's an inventive film and one not for all tastes, but you can't say it's boring. You may hate it for pretension but you won't fall asleep watching. |
| Rating | | | Date | March 15, 2005 | | Summary | The best of a type. | Content
| This movie is truly a milestone in independent film, but it also updates a familiar theme: The unique, troubled soul is accidentally brought to someone who wants to save him, despite his best efforts to remain in bondage (think of Breakfast at Tiffany's, or Harold and Maude). The story and dialogue are SO tight, the characters so rich, and the images so perfect - it's a wonderful film, though disturbing for those who are unable to be satisfied by the main character's path to redemption. If you happen to remember the description / trailer of the movie, be advised that this is not a comedy, and is not even really about sex. It's about the mental prisons we build for ourselves... |
| Rating | | | Date | March 11, 2005 | | Summary | Dont forget the soundtrack! | Content
| I also found this movie highly entertaining, and one of my personal favorites. Plenty of others have gone over the story line, but I am surprised that nobody has mentioned the soundtrack, which is at least as responsible as the images for the feeling imparted by the film. I have been a soundtrack buff for years, and this one doesn't disappoint. Some parts are haunting, such as when Ann looks upon Graham sleeping. She doesn't wake him, but goes back to bed, and you see that Graham wasn't sleeping, but was aware of Ann's visit. Other parts are not subtle at all, such as the strong organ licks during Cynthia and Johns get together after Cynthia's video taping episode, where she became so worked up she had to have John over right away (get those balls in the air and get your butt over here!). You know during that encounter that she wishes it were Graham, probably the first guy she has met that hasn't hit on her. You get the feeling that she doesn't understand why he has such an affect on her.
The music during Ann's visit, and eventual taping session, is also perfect for the part, filling the gaps but not intruding on the film.
All in all, the music is a perfect mating with the visuals in this film, and worth noting |
| Rating | | | Date | January 05, 2005 | | Summary | Incorporate This Film Into Your Collection | Content
| Okay, I'm highly biased. This is my favorite movie of all time.
It's a moody movie, set in the South, where emotion and dialogue carry me (and probably you) to the end. It's so good that, for me, it has become "peanut butter fiction," as if it's always been a part of my life. When there's nothing else to watch, I'll put it in. And I'll wonder why I waited so long to watch Sex, Lies, and Videotape again.
I've spent some time trying to identify the protagonist of this film. As with many great films, our hero is not clear. We have Ann (played by Andie MacDowell), the popular southern girl who, about a year ago, married a promising lawyer, John (Peter Gallagher), recently made junior partner of his firm. John is secretly sleeping with Cynthia (Laura San Giacomo), Ann's sister. This situation would have gone on indefinitely, were it not for the arrival of Graham (James Spader). Graham is John's old buddy who is moving back to town and, with John's permission, will be staying at John and Ann's upscale home. Although logically Graham should turn out to be just like John--a deceitful man--we quickly discover that the opposite is True. "True" with a capital T.
Graham has changed since the old days. He's artsy, mysterious, immediately strange and likeable, and Truthful. John doesn't know what to make of him. The dialogue in this movie is perfectly revealing, for instance, when Graham explains how he insists on having a car. John finds a need for a car humorous: "In case you have to leave someplace in a hurry." Graham counteracts this observation by adding, "Yeah, or go someplace in a hurry." The first response indicates guilt, the second determination. Graham has come back to town for a reason.
John sends Ann apartment hunting with Graham, which provides John the perfect opportunity to have sex with Cynthia in the marital house while they are away. Unbeknownst to him, Ann and Graham share a connection. So we have either Ann or Graham as our "hero." Ann subconsciously suspects infidelity, and Graham has come to town to show "someone" that he has changed--and we the audience come to realize that he is specifically NOT being John, although years ago he and John were probably exactly alike. Graham is specifically not a liar. He is also impotent.
Sorry if you feel I'm forcing "spoilers" upon your eyes. I could give a treatment of this entire movie and still make it worth watching. So far, the only thing I've left out of Sex, Lies, and Videotape is the videotape. Graham may not be able to have sex with another person, but he can "get off." He makes videotapes. He videotapes women talking about sex, and if you were to ask him if this is how he achieves sexual satisfaction, he'd say matter-of-factly Yes. He sits in the living room of the apartment that Ann helped him find watching women talk about their sexual experiences.
Perhaps this movie would have fizzled at this point, with Graham out of the marital home, but for the sexually oriented Cynthia who hears about Graham and his strange habits. Once Cynthia visits Graham in his personal space, the conflict of the movie becomes intereseting. This is a movie with few, if any, visual effects. O Trust me when I say you don't need them. The story is enough.
How will John react to Cynthia visiting his ex-best friend? How will John react to Ann, who is slowly becoming wise? How will John react to the fact that Graham is the center of attention? Until Graham's arrival, John lived in a perfect world.
If you press me, I'll say the protagonist of this story is Ann, because the outcome of events MOST affects her, and she is likeable. At first I thought the protagonist was Graham. There is a part of me that considers that John is the most affected by the plotline, because his perfect situation is in danger of falling like sand out of the palms of his grubby hands. In any work of fiction, he whom is MOST changed by story events is our hero. You'll have to decide that for yourself.
I consider Sex, Lies, and Videotape to be "peanut butter" cinema. It's so good that you accept it as such; it's a staple of your refrigerator--er--your DVD shelf. It will wait to be seen, yearly, like Bob Clark's A Christmas Story. You can't watch it daily, but you'll want to. You can put it in your DVD player and do other things, occasionally tuning in for great dialogue and masterful plotting. But that's only after you've watched it too many times. The first time, you'll wonder why there aren't more movies like this. You'll wish you were a screenwriter. You might even sit down at a blank First Draft document. You might wonder why you can't make the words come, and when they do come, you wonder why you're such a plagiarist. Why didn't you write Sex, Lies, and Videotape first? |
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