Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989)

Director:

Steven Soderbergh

Writer (WGA):

Steven Soderbergh (written by)

Release Date:

18 August 1989 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A sexually repressed woman's husband is having an affair with her sister. The arrival of a visitor with a rather unusual fetish changes everything.

Plot Keywords:

Therapist | Drifter | Understanding | Voyeur | Dysfunctional Marriage

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 12 wins & 10 nominations

Cast

James Spader	...	Graham Dalton
Andie MacDowell	...	Ann Bishop Mullany
Peter Gallagher	...	John Mullany
Laura San Giacomo	...	Cynthia Patrice Bishop
Ron Vawter	...	Therapist
Steven Brill	...	Barfly
Alexandra Root	...	Girl on Tape
Earl T. Taylor	...	Landlord
David Foil	...	John's Colleague

Directed by
Steven Soderbergh

Writing credits (WGA)
Steven Soderbergh		(written by)

Produced by
John Hardy	....	producer
Morgan Mason	....	executive producer
Robert F. Newmyer	....	producer (as Robert Newmyer)
Nancy Tenenbaum	....	executive producer
Nick Wechsler	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Cliff Martinez

Cinematography by
Walt Lloyd

Film Editing by
Steven Soderbergh

Casting by
Deborah Aquila

Art Direction by
Joanne Schmidt

Set Decoration by
Victoria Spader

Makeup Department
Sabrina Lopez	....	hair stylist
James Ryder	....	makeup artist
Amanda Schuler	....	hair stylist

Production Management
John Hardy	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Mike Dempsey	....	first assistant director (as Michael Dempsey)
Alexandra Root	....	second assistant director

Art Department
Bonnie Amos	....	artwork
Amy Archinal	....	artwork
Bill Cancienne	....	swing crew chief
Aaron Glascock	....	property master

Sound Department
Vanessa Theme Ament	....	foley artist (as Vanessa Ament)
Larry Blake	....	sound editor
Larry Blake	....	sound re-recordist
Scott Chandler	....	foley recordist
David W. Gray	....	stereo sound consultant: Dolby
Paul Ledford	....	production sound mixer
David E. Stone	....	foley editor (as Dave Stone)
Stephen Tyler	....	boom operator
Ben Williams	....	sound assistant
Ron Bartlett	....	sound editor (uncredited)
Matthew C. Beville	....	sound recordist (uncredited)
Oscar Mitt	....	sound (uncredited)
Dave Moreno	....	weddington recordist (uncredited)
Steven Soderbergh	....	sound editor (uncredited)
Steven Soderbergh	....	sound re-recordist (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Phil Beard	....	gaffer
Tony Brignac	....	second assistant camera
Buddy Carr	....	electrician
Gilly Charbonnet	....	grip
Michael Charbonnet	....	first assistant camera
Jonathan Coney	....	grip
Diana Gary	....	still photographer
David Jensen	....	best boy
Bennie Robertson	....	generator operator
J.D. Streett	....	key grip

Casting Department
Philip Jostrom	....	casting assistant

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Amanda Moore	....	wardrober
James Ryder	....	costumer

Editorial Department
Scott Hill	....	negative cutter
Dan Muscarella	....	color timer
Steve New	....	negative cutter

Music Department
Larry Blake	....	music recordist
Mark A. Mangini	....	musician: acoustic guitar (as Mark Mangini)
Sharal Churchill	....	soundtrack consultant (uncredited)

Transportation Department
Susan Bonfils	....	driver
Ross Neill	....	driver

Other crew
Howard Behar	....	legal services
Melissa Benedetto	....	production assistant
Jim Brannon	....	caterer
Billy Collins Jr.	....	production accountant
Davis Guggenheim	....	production coordinator: Los Angeles
John Kao	....	production executive
Louis Koerner	....	production assistant
Elizabeth Lambert	....	script supervisor
Nancy Mcintosh	....	production coordinator: Los Angeles
Harris Miller	....	legal services
Robert Mintz	....	completion bond
Rusty Smith	....	caterer
Harold Welb	....	production consultant

Thanks
John Dunn	....	special thanks
Mark A. Mangini	....	special thanks (as Mark Mangini)

Production Companies

• Outlaw Productions (I)
• Virgin

Distributors

• AMLF (France)
• BDM Distribution (1990) (Belgium) (VHS)
• Concorde Filmverleih (Germany)
• Criterion Collection, The (USA) (laserdisc)
• Miramar Home Vídeo (Brazil) (VHS)
• Miramax Films
• Pathé (France) (video)
• Transmundo Films (Argentina)
• Transmundo Home Video (THV) (Argentina) (video)

Other Companies

• Completion Bond Company  completion guarantee
• Precision Film Cutting  negative cutting
• Sprocket Systems  foley recording
• Telecine Tech  film-to-tape transfer
• Ten Twenty Catering  catering
• Truman Van Dyke Company  production insurance
• Virgin Records  soundtrack (as Virgin Movie Music)
• Weddington Productions  post-production sound services
• Weiman Baucher Kuchel & Silber  legal services

Also Known As:

Sex, Lies... (USA) (short title)

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Singapore:M18 | Belgium:16 (video rating) | Iceland:16 (video rating) | Iceland:14 (original rating) | Portugal:M/16 | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Chile:18 | Finland:K-12 | Norway:10 (1989) | South Korea:18 | Sweden:7 | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA

Company:

Outlaw Productions (I)

Trivia:

In one scene, we watch a videotaped confession by one of James Spader's character's past lovers. The director gave the script and a video camera to actress Jennifer Jason Leigh in order for her to tape the speech at home with the help of her boyfriend, but they never got around to it and, once filming began, a crewmember was used in the brief role.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Graham is interviewing Ann, Ann sets the camera down on the arm of the chair pointing at the window away from the couch. When Graham gets up to turn it off, it is pointing at the couch.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Ann: Garbage. All i've been thinking about all week is garbage. I mean, i just can't stop thinking about it.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Sex, Footballers and Videotape (2004) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Garbage

The same as you learned in Sunday School, only the exemplars are different

Sex, Lies and Videotape will probably strike the average viewer as irredeemably degenerate, maybe even perverted, since voyeurism is still considered aberrant behavior. But as far as this film is concerned, that's the appearance, not the reality. Whereas the drama revolves to a certain extent around the voyeuristic masturbation of an impotent man, the heart and soul of the film is an unrelenting, hard driving psychological siege on the biggest erogenous zone of all: the brain.

This film is about sex. But it's not about the frothy swapping of fluids and feelings. It's about honesty, without which one can't have intimacy, which is to sexual stimulation what the water valve is to the hydrant. From beginning to end, we see this theme brought into focus by the dramatic contrast between two different relationships – the one based on lies and deceit, the other based upon honesty. And guess which one wins out in the long run?

In a sense, it's what your mother and Sunday school teacher taught you all along. But what makes this movie way more interesting than your mother or Sunday school teacher is the level of honesty it suggests is necessary as the basis of a healthy relationship. Ann (Andy McDowell), for example, an acceptably moral person tells the voyeuristic masturbator `You got a problem.' He replies by adding that he has a lot of problems. But, he says, `They belong to me.'

Somehow, the openness about one's problems renders their bile and poison ineffective. `Lilies that fester,' said Shakespeare, `smell far worse than weeds.'