Review of sex, lies, and videotape (1989) by Ryan H — 02 Nov 2012

It's unbelievable that this was Steven Soderbergh's first feature. I believe it accomplishes almost everything it sets out to do. There's no threat of danger or violence or anything, yet whenever Graham's around there's always a sense of uneasiness.

It comes with the mystery of his character. Who is Graham? He boasts honesty and everyone seems to open up to him, but there's definitely something under the surface that we don't know. This is what makes Ann so interested in him.

He's like no other guy she has met before. But to go straight from the opening, what is one of the last thing you would expect a sexy film to open up with? Dialogue about garbage would be a correct answer.

Ann's at a psychiatrist talking about garbage and how she imagines it overflowing. The rest of the opening's pretty great. I feel like we are with her in the psychiatrist's office for a good 10 minutes while we also cut away to Graham's getting ready to move and John's at work.

By the way, when he starts talking about his wedding ring attracting more women I definitely didn't want to believe this was going to be Ann's husband. There's no way. She's not a sexual woman at all.

Lately she hasn't liked it when her husband touches her, and she even explains that she doesn't think that sex is important. Actually, it seems like later Graham explains it to her that men fall in love with the woman they find attractive, and women find men more attractive once they fall in love with them.

The look on her face shows that a missing piece just snapped into place. Does she still love John? Well the jerkoff is sleeping with her sister, Cynthia, so hopefully the realization is that she doesn't love him.

And it's really interesting to have almost every single conversation in the film revolve around sex and once it's captured on Graham's videocamera it feels completely different. Are we not watching these characters already being filmed talking about sex? We know their personal lives, so why does it feel so scary to see them talk about it on a different camera? Perhaps it's because we become self-conscious about becoming the viewer.

We find Graham's fetish to be strange. Soderbergh does plenty of brilliant things throughout this film. The first piece of music doesn't come up until roughly 20 minutes into the film when Ann comes downstairs and watches Graham sleep.

The rest of the film uses music sparingly as well. It seems like Soderbergh wants his audience to feel the characters before he creates atmosphere with music. I'm sure there is a better and more full explanation than that somewhere out there.

He also has plenty of subtle sexual movements going on in the film. For example, when Graham tells Ann of his impotence she's stroking a glass, almost like masturbation, similar to the movement of Peter Lorre in The Maltese Falcon.

On top of that there are continually smooth movements that feel like they are hypnotizing and seducing us. All the way, this is a sexy film following a woman who's not interested in sex. The scene where we get to see her videotape with Graham was not a disappointment.

I expected the scene to not live up to its potential because it's been built up so much, but it's really spot on. When she turns the camera on him it's really great. We get to learn what Graham's all about, why he moved here, what the deal is with Elizabeth.

We discover Ann's never had an orgasm. We learn that she doesn't want to be like her sister, which is one of the reasons why she's so turned off by sex. It's a big deal in the end when we see her forgive her sister by bringing her a birthday present and then going to see Graham, whom she's now with.

And then John's in all kinds of trouble. So what's the big secret about sex? I'm not sure if Soderbergh's trying to claim that he knows. Instead he wants people to truly love each other and be open, or at least that's what works for these characters.

sex, lies, and videotape is a sexy film without ever showing sex or nudity. Soderbergh knows how to create sexiness without throwing it in your face, which makes it one of the sexiest films I have ever seen.