Sex, Lies, and Videotape
Sex, Lies, and Videotape (often written in all lowercase as sex, lies, and videotape) is a 1989 American independent drama film written and directed by Steven Soderbergh. The plot tells the story of a troubled man who videotapes women discussing their sexuality and fantasies, and its impact on the relationships of a troubled married couple and the wife's younger sister.
Sex, Lies, and Videotape
Steven Soderbergh
Nancy Tenenbaum
John Hardy
Robert Newmyer
Walt Lloyd
Steven Soderbergh
- January 20, 1989 (Sundance)
- August 18, 1989 (United States)
100 minutes[1]
United States
English
$1.2 million
$36.7 million[2]
Sex, Lies, and Videotape won the Palme d'Or at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival, making Soderbergh the youngest solo director to win the award; he was 26 at the time. The film was influential in revolutionizing the independent film movement in the early 1990s. In 2006, Sex, Lies, and Videotape was added to the United States Library of Congress' National Film Registry, deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Production[edit]
The film was written by Steven Soderbergh in eight days on a yellow legal pad during a cross country trip (although, as Soderbergh points out in his DVD commentary track, he had been thinking about the film for a year).
Soderbergh's commentary also reveals that he had written Andie MacDowell's role with Elizabeth McGovern in mind, but McGovern's agent disliked the script so much that McGovern never even got to read it. Laura San Giacomo, who was represented by the same agency, had to threaten to leave that agency in order to be able to play Cynthia. Soderbergh was reluctant to audition MacDowell but she surprised him, getting the role after two extremely successful auditions. The role of John would have been played by Tim Daly, but delays in completing the financing for the film led to Peter Gallagher's getting the role instead as Daly was cast in the TV series Almost Grown.
With a budget of only $1.2 million, a week of rehearsal and a month-long shoot in August 1988 was all Soderbergh could afford. He would later call it: “the only movie I’ve ever made where I felt like I had all the money and all the time I needed.”[3] Principal photography took place in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.[4]
Reception and legacy[edit]
Box office[edit]
Sex, Lies, and Videotape opened in a limited release on August 4, 1989, in 4 theaters and grossed $155,982, with an average of 30 patrons per showing in the first 2–3 weeks; the studio released the film nationwide. The widest release for the film was 534 theaters and it ended up earning $24,741,667 in the United States,[5] and around $36.74 million worldwide.[2]
Critical response[edit]
Sex, Lies, and Videotape was well received in its initial release in 1989 and holds a rating of 96% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 52 reviews with an average score of 8.00/10. The consensus states: "In his feature directorial debut, Steven Soderbergh demonstrates a mastery of his craft well beyond his years, pulling together an outstanding cast and an intelligent script for a nuanced, mature film about neurosis and human sexuality".[6] The film also has a score of 86 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 17 reviews.[7]
In 2006, Sex, Lies, and Videotape was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Accolades[edit]
At the 1989 Cannes Film Festival, the film won the Palme d'Or and the FIPRESCI Prize, with Spader getting the Best Actor Award.[8] It also won an Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival. Soderbergh was nominated for an Academy Award for his screenplay.[9]
Home media[edit]
The DVD includes a "director's dialogue" between Soderbergh and playwright/director Neil LaBute, recorded in 1998. LaBute's presence leads to conversational tangents unrelated to the film, although most of the tangents are related to the question of what it means to be a director, and are intended, as Soderbergh summarizes at the end, to "demystify" the process of making a film. LaBute's presence prompts Soderbergh to talk about reverse zooms, dolly shots, how actors have varying expectations of their director, the difference between stealing from a film you admire and paying tribute to it, shooting out of sequence, how the role of a director changes as their success (and their budgets) grow and other filmmaking topics.
Adaptations[edit]
The movie was presented as a staged play in Hollywood at the Next Stage from December 13, 2003, to January 17, 2004. Directed by Seth Wiley and a cast that featured Amanda Bauman (Ann), Emily Williams (Therapist), Shauna Slade (Cynthia), Justin Christenson (Graham) and Jack Sundmacher (John).[19]
Full Frontal: "an unofficial sequel of sorts"[edit]
A sequel was announced in 2001 and Catherine Keener was the first actor attached to the project, named How to Survive a Hotel Room Fire. It was billed by Miramax as "an unofficial sequel of sorts."[20] In October, it was announced the movie would star Julia Roberts, David Hyde Pierce and David Duchovny. After the September 11 attacks, the title was changed to The Art of Negotiating a Turn.[21] Miramax head Harvey Weinstein did not like the new title, and consequently Soderbergh suggested the title, Full Frontal, under which the film was released.[22]
Possible sequel[edit]
In May 2020, Soderbergh revealed that he wrote a sequel during the coronavirus quarantine.[23] In December of that year, he stated that the sequel would be "about the two sisters 30 years later. One of them has had a child who is about the same age that she was in the original." He also said that MacDowell and San Giacomo agreed to reprise their roles.[24]