Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989)
Sex, Lies, and Videotape started Steven Soderbergh's long career in filmmaking and thus that's where I start in looking back at his career . Sex, Lies, and Videotape certainly lives up to its name. It has sex, it has lies, and it has videotape. It's an interesting film that's for sure. I'm honestly not sure how I feel about it. It was worth watching. I know that. I also was not bored while watching.
I do know that Soderbergh makes films that don't provide easy answers. At least I think he does. Though I suppose the ending of this movie is fairly easy. Each plot point and each character arc gets addressed. Ann Bishop Mullany is a housewife who quit her job for her husband. She's unsatisfied with her life, though she convinces herself it is fine. She doesn't want to touch her husband and has never had an orgasm. Despite the fact that she's unhappy, she reasons that she has a good home, she's comfortable, and happiness is overrated.
Meanwhile, her husband is played by Peter Gallagher. I don't want to say he's typecast, but he's played by Peter Gallagher. If you've ever seen him in anything, you already know what type of person he is. He's very good at playing this guy. He plays this guy in fucking everything. This might even be the genesis of that guy. The reason he's so good at it is that he's somehow so transparently awful but at the same time you can see the charm behind him. You don't really question why women fall for him. That's a really important element in this type of character.
Anyway, his friend, Graham Dalton, comes to town and apparently the two of them have wildly diverged in personality since the last time they saw them. Apparently he went from a smarmy douchebag to a soft-spoken creep. What's weird is that he kind of acts and talks like a creep. James Spader is good in this, but I found myself wondering: How the fuck did this guy get so many women to agree to this? It's just for his own personal collection! It's not even like a study or something. The reasons the two women that we know do this are clear and I have no issues with that. But did he get a jealous sister and a vengeful wife in every town? I guess he had nine years to do this.
Speaking of, I'll also say that Cynthia Patrice Bishop (what's with the three names for both sisters?) gets shortchanged as a character. She really likes sex and is jealous of her sister to an extreme degree. She has an affair with her husband and makes a videotape with Graham to spite her. Just because she's not allowed. I'll give credit to Laura San Giacomo for making this character work. I really can't imagine her working on the page nearly as well as she does on the screen, mostly due to San Giacomo.
In fact, this whole cast is great. Andie McDowell got nominated for a Golden Globe for her part in this movie (and San Giacomo did too). I'm being a bit too critical of this movie, but I think the writing is only ok in this movie, and the performances elevate it. The dialogue is actually good, but I don't think the characters are that well-drawn and it relies on the performers to make up for it (which they do.) For instance, Spader's character on the page? No chance that works with a lesser actor.
I don't know what makes a film feel distinctly Soberbergh, but I did notice a few of his directing choices. First off, the way he sets up the film is rather well-done. We find out everything we need to know in a quick 10 minutes. Ann Bishop is talking to her therapist while her husband is cheating on her and Graham is cleaning himself in a gas station bathroom. Boom. I also liked the first shot - which is a shot of the road moving from the perspective of the underside of car. It was was one of the few times I think he indulged in making a cool shot for the sake of making a cool shot. It works as an opening shot though as that's one of the times you can get really creative without it being obtrusive to the movie in my opinion.
Secondly, the videotape reveal was done well. She finds out her husband is cheating on her, she goes directly to Graham's to make a videotape, she convinces Graham to actually make the tape, and then we cut to her asking for a divorce. The husband goes to fight Graham and then we see the tape from his perspective in the grainy video and then it transitions from a third party perspective to the conclusion of the tape. Lastly, he's just good at making a logical story. It's a small thing, but I noticed he kept giving iced tea to his visitors and then at the end, he says he's out of iced tea right when I was wondering how much fucking iced tea he had. Also, not that it was particularly hard to figure out, but a throwaway line about how the sister can't find her earrings is nonetheless appreciated for setting up the finale ahead of time.
I don't know what makes a film feel distinctly Soberbergh, but I did notice a few of his directing choices. First off, the way he sets up the film is rather well-done. We find out everything we need to know in a quick 10 minutes. Ann Bishop is talking to her therapist while her husband is cheating on her and Graham is cleaning himself in a gas station bathroom. Boom. I also liked the first shot - which is a shot of the road moving from the perspective of the underside of car. It was was one of the few times I think he indulged in making a cool shot for the sake of making a cool shot. It works as an opening shot though as that's one of the times you can get really creative without it being obtrusive to the movie in my opinion.
Secondly, the videotape reveal was done well. She finds out her husband is cheating on her, she goes directly to Graham's to make a videotape, she convinces Graham to actually make the tape, and then we cut to her asking for a divorce. The husband goes to fight Graham and then we see the tape from his perspective in the grainy video and then it transitions from a third party perspective to the conclusion of the tape. Lastly, he's just good at making a logical story. It's a small thing, but I noticed he kept giving iced tea to his visitors and then at the end, he says he's out of iced tea right when I was wondering how much fucking iced tea he had. Also, not that it was particularly hard to figure out, but a throwaway line about how the sister can't find her earrings is nonetheless appreciated for setting up the finale ahead of time.
I don't demand that every plot or character gets resolves, but I was curious at the decision to not really address that the sister relationship at the end. Clearly, their relationship was not central to the film's mind. Ann finds out that her sister cheated and we don't see them interact until the end, and given that she has a job and is comfortable with Graham, that's presumably some time later. Graham's impotence is solved, the husband gets his comeuppance, and obviously Ann seems happy. The sister? She's the plot driver, but that's about it. There's no conclusion to her arc, which I just find weird because I consider her one of the four main characters and the other three all get an ending.
All in all, I think this is an average movie elevated by the performances and by the direction. I won't get a true picture of how I think he is as writer, because he didn't write that many movies and what he did write was either co-written by him or he's adapted it from something (which isn't an easy thing, but does seem like an ideal format for a really good director). I guess I could watch the two movies he wrote that he didn't direct, but neither seem that good. Anyway, as a director, this movie leaves me excited. Because if he can elevate what I think would be an average movie in most director's hands, I wonder what he can do with a good movie.
3/4 stars
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