Sex Lies and Videotape: Could Have Used some More Sex and Lies

Stephen Soderbergh’s Debut Film Won Accoldates for Inaugurating the Indie Movement of the 90s. Was it Worth It?

Sex Lies and Videotape (1989)-Stephen Soderbergh’s debut feature film has long been hailed as a benchmark of independent cinema and stands somewhere on the lower tier of the essential canon of classics.

The film stars a who’s who of rising stars of the era with Peter Gallagher (playing John), James Spader (Graham), Andie MacDowell (Anne), and Laura San Giacomo (Cynthia) in the lead roles. John is married to MacDowell who has a pretty low libido — she might be diagnosed as asexual if the movie was more modern. As a result, John resorts to an affair with her friskier sister Cynthia. Meanwhile John’s college pal Graham comes back to their life and throws a few logs in the fire.

For the promises of the title, Graham is not really a sex maniac. He’s an impotent man who videotapes people talking about sex and occasionally disrobing (but it’s primarily talking. There’s not a lot of sex or even lying: Like a dialogue-centered play, the characters are brutally honest. But there is videotape! So what we essentially have is “My Dinner with Andre” with significantly more racy sex talk.