SEX, LIES, AND VIDEOTAPE (1989) A Film Review by Ted Prigge Copyright 1997 Ted Prigge
Writer/Director: Steven Soderbergh Starring: James Spader, Andie MacDowell, Peter Gallagher, Laura San Giacomo
In an age where sex is shown in its entirety, where graphic sex scenes seem to populate more and more movies, it's a blast to see a film that blatantly talks about sex but never features any actual skin. And it's even more of a shock that not only is there no skin and very little actual sex, but that it's actually more erotic than all of those little cheapie films.
"sex, lies, and videotape" was the film that basically made the indie film chic, back in its early days of the late 80s. Writing the screenplay in about 7 days, Steven Soderbergh made this very talkative film, sent it to Cannes, and came home with the coveted "Palme D'Or." Truthfully, it's not a masterpiece, really, but really a fantastic character study out to prove a point: talking about sex is more of a turn-on than actualy sex. And it makes its point wonderfully.
The film is about, well, sex, lies, and videotape. Centering around four characters, all with some screwed-up aspects of sex in their individual respects, it's a fascinating film that holds one's focus for its full 100 minutes. It unfolds like a wonderfully-written novel, introducing us to characters one-by-one, then tying them together brilliantly. This is not only brilliantly written, but also brilliantly directed and acted, with all four leads giving no less than amazing performances.
James Spader plays Graham, who basically lives in his car, and roams the country like a drifter or nomad. We learn very little of him at a time, and he's the most intriguing character in the whole film. Anyway, the film's plot takes off when he arrives at the home of his old college roomate's, John (Peter Gallagher), a lawyer who's married to a sexually barren wife, Ann (Andie MacDowell, before she became moderately big), who thinks sex his over-rated. But John is really conducting an affair with Ann's more liberal sister, Cynthia (Laura San Giacomo, from "Pretty Woman" and the current sitcom "Fired Up").
Ann is as fascinated with the mysterious Graham as we are, and ends up apartment shopping with him one day. Following this little shopping excursion, they have lunch together, where they do a bit of flirting, and begin confessing a bit, where Graham announces he's impotent. He ends up buying an apartment, and when Ann goes over to see him, she finds a bunch of tapes he's made with woman. At first, she thinks there kinky tapes of him having sex with woman (then she remembers he's impotent), but he kind of calmy announces that they're his personal project: videotaping women talking about sex. She, and we, are disturbed (and with good reason), but are undeniably fascinated by what's going on. She leaves awkwardly, turned off, but, of course, not being able to put this away in the back of her mind.
Thins happen with the four characters, and soon, not only does Cynthia find Graham's little fetish intriguing as well, but she has soon made a tape for him, finding it much more of an actual turn-on than actual sex with John. When Ann makes a tape, it's probably the best scene in the movie, since it becomes the enzyme which fuels the characters to come out in the end the way they do.
This is, of course, a film primarily fueled by characters. The plot is moved only by characterization, not some cheap plot device. The use of videotaping sexual confessions is not a cheap plot gimmick, but rather an outlet that is created by one of the characters to compensate for a lack of interest in sex. This is really true-to-life, since sex is basically interesting for a while, but gets old, but talking about it is pretty much immortal. The scene where Graham interviews Ann for the camera is one of the greatest film scenes in recent film history, as it shows the characters opening up in ways they wouldn't before. Each character is mysterious, but soon shows they are human and unique.
The acting is superb from all four leads. James Spader, who has never made it big, but is pretty much a great actor in most of what he does, has created a role which would be laughably bad if done by a lesser actor, but he hits all the right notes, making him mysteriously seductive, yet still human. Spader's one of the more underrated actors around, but shows us here that he is a fantastic actor. Andie MacDowell, who is often criticized for her acting, is also amazing here, and also hits all the right notes in her character. She seems like she would be the wrong choice for the role, judging by what she usually does in her work as of late, but shows she's a very talented actress, making her character multi-leveled and human. Peter Gallagher, who's also very underrated, has the tough part in the respect that he's the least likable character in the film. He's the adulterous, lying husband, who never really fully understands the videotaping, but is nevertheless brilliantly acted by Gallagher. And Laura San Giacomo, who also never made it big (I'm sensing a trend here), rocks in the free-spirited role of Cynthia, making her likable even though she's doing a horrible thing to her sister.
Alas, this film is brilliant, but is probably not one of the greatest films of all time like it may seem. It's definitely one of the most important films, and one of the best executed films I've seen, but it's not a film that has a ton of depth to it. But the message gets across, and it gets its job done, and gets it done with flying colors. It's mildly erotic, but always interesting. So, it might not have absolutely deserved the "Palme D'Or" (I have no clue what else was up that year), but it's a landmark film in indie history, and it's just a great film to watch.
MY RATING (out of 5): ***1/2
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