MOVIEmeter
Top 5000
No change this week

Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989)

 -  Drama  -  18 August 1989 (USA)
7.1
Your rating:
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 -/10 X  
Ratings: 7.1/10 from 26,809 users   Metascore: 86/100
Reviews: 84 user | 47 critic | 17 from Metacritic.com

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.

Director:

Watch Trailer
0Check in
0Share...

User Lists

Related lists from IMDb users

a list of 2369 titles created 4 months ago
 
a list of 374 titles created 17 Apr 2011
 
a list of 10000 titles created 2 months ago
 
a list of 3595 titles created 1 month ago
 
a list of 50 titles created 3 months ago
 

Connect with IMDb


Share this Rating

Title: Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989)

Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989) on IMDb 7.1/10

Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.

Take The Quiz!

Test your knowledge of Sex, Lies, and Videotape.
Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 18 wins & 14 nominations. See more awards »

Videos

Photos

Learn more

People who liked this also liked... 

The Hours (2002)
Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.5/10 X  

The story of how the novel "Mrs. Dalloway" affects three generations of women, all of whom, in one way or another, have had to deal with suicide in their lives.

Director: Stephen Daldry
Stars: Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, Nicole Kidman
Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.8/10 X  

On the hottest day of the year on a street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, everyone's hate and bigotry smolders and builds until it explodes into violence.

Director: Spike Lee
Stars: Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee
Talk to Her (2002)
Comedy | Drama | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8/10 X  

Two men share an odd friendship while they care for their girlfriends who are both in deep comas.

Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Stars: Javier Cámara, Darío Grandinetti, Leonor Watling
Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.2/10 X  

Katniss Everdeen voluntarily takes her younger sister's place in the Hunger Games, a televised fight to the death in which two teenagers from each of the twelve Districts of Panem are chosen at random to compete.

Director: Gary Ross
Stars: Stanley Tucci, Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth
Paris, Texas (1984)
Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8/10 X  

A man wanders out of the desert not knowing who he is. His brother finds him, and helps to pull his memory back of the life he led before he walked out on his wife and son four years before... See full summary »

Director: Wim Wenders
Stars: Harry Dean Stanton, Sam Berry, Dean Stockwell
Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.5/10 X  

Lester Burnham, a depressed suburban father in a mid-life crisis, decides to turn his hectic life around after developing an infatuation for his daughter's attractive friend.

Director: Sam Mendes
Stars: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch
Boogie Nights (1997)
Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.9/10 X  

The story of a young man's adventures in the Californian pornography industry of the 1970s and 1980s.

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Stars: Luis Guzmán, Burt Reynolds, Julianne Moore
Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.8/10 X  

Young Esteban want to become a writer and also to discover the identity of his father, carefully concealed by the mother Manuela.

Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Stars: Cecilia Roth, Marisa Paredes, Candela Peña
Magnolia (1999)
Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8/10 X  

An epic mosaic of several interrelated characters in search of happiness, forgiveness, and meaning in the San Fernando Valley.

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Stars: Julianne Moore, Tom Cruise, Philip Seymour Hoffman
Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.9/10 X  

A naive male prostitute and his sickly friend struggle to survive on the streets of New York City.

Director: John Schlesinger
Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight, Sylvia Miles
Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.7/10 X  

A just-divorced man must learn to care for his son on his own, and then must fight in court to keep custody of him.

Director: Robert Benton
Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Jane Alexander
Shame (2011)
Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.3/10 X  

In New York City, Brandon's carefully cultivated private life -- which allows him to indulge his sexual addiction -- is disrupted when his sister arrives unannounced for an indefinite stay.

Director: Steve McQueen
Stars: Michael Fassbender, Lucy Walters, James Badge Dale
Edit

Cast

Complete credited cast:
...
...
...
...
Ron Vawter ...
...
Alexandra Root ...
Earl T. Taylor ...
Landlord
David Foil ...
John's Colleague
Edit

Storyline

Ann is married to John, who is having an affair with her sister Cynthia. Ann's a quiet type and unwilling to let herself go. When John's old friend, Graham, shows up, all their lives change. Graham likes to videotape interviews with women. Written by Rob Hartill

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Genres:

Drama

Certificate:

R | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
Edit

Details

Official Sites:

Country:

Language:

Release Date:

18 August 1989 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Sex, Lies...  »

Filming Locations:


Box Office

Budget:

$1,200,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$24,741,700 (USA)
 »

Company Credits

Production Co:

,  »
Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

Color:

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1
See  »
Edit

Did You Know?

Trivia

One scene includes a videotaped confession by one of James Spader's character's past lovers. The director gave the script and a video camera to Jennifer Jason Leigh so she could tape the speech at home with the help of her boyfriend. They never got around to it; once filming began, a crew member was used in the brief role. See more »

Goofs

When Graham watches the first video, the sound of a film projector can be heard in the background. Video doesn't make that sound. See more »

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.
See more »

Crazy Credits

This film is dedicated to Ann Dollard 1956-1988 See more »


Soundtracks

"Garbage"
Written by Mark A. Mangini
Performed by Mark A. Mangini
See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.

User Reviews

Iced-Tea, Anyone?
14 August 2002 | by (India) – See all my reviews

Why does Graham prefer iced tea so much? He offers it to Ann when she visits him for the first time at his apartment. Does the same when Cynthia pays him a visit. When he and Ann are having their first real conversation in the restaurant there's a glass of iced tea next to him, while Ann has a glass of white wine. Besides being a probable leitmotif, it's something that, seems to me is a part of Graham's character. He comes to live in that town to get away, to find a closure to his past. He ends up providing closure to the lives of these three characters. Let's imagine a scenario sans Graham - a phase in the life of a woman whose husband is having an extra-marital affair with her sister. She's suspicious but he denies. She finds evidence to prove that he's having an affair with her sister and decides she's had it, she's leaving her husband. Do you think this might have been the conclusion of this scenario? I think not. As Ann rightly says to Graham, that she would have left her husband anyway, but the reason she's doing it now, is because of him. She thinks sex is overrated, her sister seems to believe in the opposite and here comes a man whose profession, for all practical purposes is having women talk about sex. Ann's therapist is a foil to Graham. While he dispenses his advice and listens patiently to Ann, Graham is the all important catalyst that helps her make a practical decision in her life. He also aids in her real sexual awakening. Before Graham, sex, for Ann was incidental. Now it takes on a different perspective.

One might say that in making women talk so intimately to him about sex, he sort of breaks the ice on a topic that is more or less socially tabooed. His is a presence that evokes trust in the most introverted of women, making them confide in him and by doing so have an almost cathartic experience. I think the iced tea motif of Graham's character fits in here. Beyond his trademark black-shirt, blue denim attire, it is the only other element related to him that is conspicuously stated. That's my conjecture anyway!

Needless to say, James Spader is superb as Graham. He manages to evoke many of the nuances of Graham's character by subtle, volatile facial expressions. Andie McDowell is also great as Ann. Hers is a really sensitive and touching performance. Peter Gallagher and Laura San Giacomo are both equally good. The music for this film is appropriately minimal and poignant. Great effort by Soderbergh, who I'm glad to hear has come back to his experimental film roots with his recent film 'Full Frontal'.




26 of 40 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you?

Message Boards

Recent Posts
Why did Spader had to go to the bathroom twice? Strange scene? unclebob-7
How can someone express their feelings non verbally? rickysol82
I Love James Spader ShanaJolene05
Why is Ann Thinking about Trash? Barbie_N
Did graham have SPD? Tarna85
Was graham in love with her? Tarna85
Discuss Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989) on the IMDb message boards »

Contribute to This Page

Create a character page for:
?