sex, lies, and videotape

"the husband. the wife. her sister. his friend."

1989 1h 41m EN

👍

7.0

SOLID

🔥

96%

CERTIFIED FRESH

💯

METACRITIC

⭐

7.2

IMDB

★7.0TMDB · 1,093🍅96%Rotten Tomatoes●86Metacritic★7.2IMDB · 64,004

Drama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Ann, a frustrated wife, enters into counseling due to a troubled marriage. Unbeknownst to her, her husband John has begun an affair with her sister. When John’s best friend Graham arrives, his penchant for interviewing women about their sex lives forever changes John and Ann’s rocky marriage.

“the husband. the wife. her sister. his friend.”

WhatsApp X Facebook Telegram

Where to watch · US

Amazon VideoBuy

Apple TV StoreBuy

Google Play MoviesBuy

YouTubeBuy

Fandango At HomeBuy

Cast

James Spader
Graham Dalton
Andie MacDowell
Ann Bishop Mullany
Peter Gallagher
John Mullany
Laura San Giacomo
Cynthia Bishop
Ron Vawter
Therapist
Steven Brill
Barfly
Alexandra Root
Girl on Tape
Earl T. Taylor
Landlord

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Steven Soderbergh
Writers: Steven Soderbergh
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $1.2M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $25M — a 20.6× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

37 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Steven Soderbergh, shot by Walt Lloyd. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Cliff Martinez. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Steven Soderbergh shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

James Spader and Andie MacDowell and Peter Gallagher carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "the husband. the wife. her sister. his friend.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Steven Soderbergh directs. Walt Lloyd behind the camera. Cliff Martinez scores. Steven Soderbergh cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $1.2M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Grossed $25M — a 20.6× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
337 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
4Directed by Steven Soderbergh, shot by Walt Lloyd. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Cliff Martinez. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Steven Soderbergh shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7James Spader and Andie MacDowell and Peter Gallagher carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "the husband. the wife. her sister. his friend.".
9IMDB entry: tt0098724 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 11 themes, including "sexual obsession", "sexuality", "orgasm", "spanner".
11Released under 15 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Walt Lloyd
Original score: Cliff Martinez
Editing: Steven Soderbergh
Makeup / hair: Sabrina Lopez
Sound: Larry Blake
Runtime: 101 min · 1h 41m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $1,200,000
Box office: $24,741,667
Return: 2062% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: sex, lies, and videotape (1989)
Rotten Tomatoes: 96% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 86/100
IMDB rating: 7.2/10 · 64,004 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

Nominated for 1 Oscar. 15 wins & 24 nominations total

Sundance Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic
Palme d'Or
National Board of Review: Top Ten Films

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Steven Soderbergh

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

William2013-10-20
★ 1/10
This is about the most nonsexual movie I have ever seen with the word sex in the title. This is worse than a watered down romance novel. The story was very boring and uninspired. I personally find all the actors/actresses unattractive and there is no chemistry. On top of this being a flat film, it contains absolutely no nudity. This would be fine for the majority of movies but with a name like Sex, Lies and Videotape, one would expect at least brief nudity. Anyways, complete waste of time.
CinemaSerf2024-07-25
★ 7/10
If in doubt, see a therapist! Well that's what the ostensibly happy "Ann" (Andi MacDowell) does whilst married to aspiring lawyer "John" (Peter Gallagher). This woman stresses about just about everything, and this singularly futile behaviour is having quite an impact on her sex-life and therefore her marriage. "John" isn't the most loyal of men, so switches allegiance to her willing barmaid sister "Cynthia" (Laura San Giacomo) and then just to add a bit more complexity, "John" meets up with old friend "Graham" (James Spader) who brings a candour to the scenario that's actually quite funny in it's potent honesty. You get a clue as to the route it's now going to take from the title and at times it's remarkably poignant as it deals quite entertainingly, if on an almost entirely sex-free basis, with what people obsess about and how in some cases the obsessing about the obsession becomes a sort of raison d'être as the problems entrench and lives get well and truly stuck. The pithy dialogue has a reality to it that though occasionally a little contrived, does make you think when you stand in front of the mirror that maybe some of the attitudes and belligerences could apply to some degree in many of our lives as we tend to overthink. It's maybe Spader's best role - his character is understated and surprisingly effective as this admittedly rather ploddingly paced look at morals and mores builds up. MacDowell isn't the best, she sort of fluffs her way through the story but the other two principals and Rob Vawter's analyst keep it all quite watchable for an hour and ah half.