Sex, Lies and Videotape (Steven Soderbergh, 1989)

SEX, LIES AND VIDEOTAPE (1989)Steven SoderberghThe story revolves around four characters. The first one is Ann, bored housewife, under therapy. She is married to John, a lawyer who cheats on her. His mistress is no other than Cynthia's sister Ann. Finally, Graham is an old friend of John’s, who comes to spend a few days at the couple’s house. Ann and Graham will learn to know each other and it's going to disrupt the lives of these four thirty-year characters tormented by their sexual lives.

The film settles for conversations about sex, in a psychological context supported by a profound characterization of each of the characters. Indeed, it relies more on this characterization and this psychological study, tied by dialogues revealing uneasiness, doubts or seduction; than action or precise plot.

That's how Soderbergh deals with the place of sex in society, in life and in marriage. Each of the characters contributes to a different aspect of this psychology:- Ann is uptight, "frigid; doesn’t want to be touched and finds that people give too much credit to sex;- Cynthia is perverse, even nymphomaniac, and thinks only of men.

[Portrait of Imogene Coca, Mary Lou Williams, and ...

[Portrait of Imogene Coca, Mary Lou Williams, and ...

John Nowland, "first" white child born in Ann Arbo...

The two sisters are two extremes; and we may think that it is voluntarily exaggerated by both; in order not to be the most different from one another;- John is unfaithful;- Graham is impotent.

Thus the director places the characters in parallel, facing each other; and the point where everyone will meet are Graham’s videos.

SEQUENCE 1: BEGINNINGThe sequence is an global introduction to the entire film. Firstly, the Ann’s character; whose first word is "garbage": anything but sensual and attractive. She talks about her fears to her psychiatrist, character which will not immediately see: we stay focused on her, in a close-up shot. Thereby, since the first scene, we already feel closer...