I was disappointed by this film the first time I saw it, but for some reason I gave it another chance. And now it has found its way into my affections as my favourite film.
On the surface, it seems that nothing much happens. Apart from Graham (James Spader) slowly running out of the ingredients for iced tea ... Yes, the characters talk a lot and there is some sex, but compared to most films, everything is rather humdrum ...
(I believe that a rival director described the film as being about a man ... masturbating.) But if you look more closely, all sorts of things are happening. Cynthia (Laura San Giacomo) is an atypical 1980s heroine: she knows what she wants (financial independence, sex, her artwork, her plants) and she goes for what she wants. And gets it. She even ends up on reasonably good terms with the sister with whom she has clearly had problems dating back to their childhood.
Ann (Andie MacDowell) is an unassertive character who ends up taking back some of the control over her life which she handed over to her husband John (Peter Gallagher - good in a rather thankless role).
And writer-director Steven Soderbergh has such an unusual twist on themes. You hear the words "sex, lies and videotape" and think that a lot of films contain those three ingredients. True, but how many also contain blackmail? Almost all of them. It is the presence of the items, minus the expected element of blackmail, that makes this special. Plus, what do you think when you hear a film is about a man who is impotent (unless alone) and has no job? Were you thinking it was a grim British film, probably set up North somewhere? I would have been.
Although the film is well-written and well-edited, there are still some small mysteries for fans to pore over. Where does Graham get his money from? Do he and Ann have full sex on the occasion when she decides to seduce him? I rather like the hints that Graham may have experimented with his sexuality (reference to being impotent in the presence of another person, rather than specifying a woman; saying he preferred taping women to taping men).
There are lots of little mysteries about the accessories: Cynthia and Graham each own a dart board. Does this mean anything? Is so, what? (Spader's then-wife was one of the people who decorated the set.) Really, my only quibble is that we never find out what Ann does in the job she ends up with. Does she, perhaps, recycle the garbage that allegedly concerned her when she was a rather desperate housewife? I would like to think that the job meant more than just a pay cheque, and maybe it does.
That is such a tiny point. Spader and San Giacomo are both, in my opinion, very sexy in this film, and that would be reason enough to watch it over and over again.
On the surface, it seems that nothing much happens. Apart from Graham (James Spader) slowly running out of the ingredients for iced tea ... Yes, the characters talk a lot and there is some sex, but compared to most films, everything is rather humdrum ...
(I believe that a rival director described the film as being about a man ... masturbating.) But if you look more closely, all sorts of things are happening. Cynthia (Laura San Giacomo) is an atypical 1980s heroine: she knows what she wants (financial independence, sex, her artwork, her plants) and she goes for what she wants. And gets it. She even ends up on reasonably good terms with the sister with whom she has clearly had problems dating back to their childhood.
Ann (Andie MacDowell) is an unassertive character who ends up taking back some of the control over her life which she handed over to her husband John (Peter Gallagher - good in a rather thankless role).
And writer-director Steven Soderbergh has such an unusual twist on themes. You hear the words "sex, lies and videotape" and think that a lot of films contain those three ingredients. True, but how many also contain blackmail? Almost all of them. It is the presence of the items, minus the expected element of blackmail, that makes this special. Plus, what do you think when you hear a film is about a man who is impotent (unless alone) and has no job? Were you thinking it was a grim British film, probably set up North somewhere? I would have been.
Although the film is well-written and well-edited, there are still some small mysteries for fans to pore over. Where does Graham get his money from? Do he and Ann have full sex on the occasion when she decides to seduce him? I rather like the hints that Graham may have experimented with his sexuality (reference to being impotent in the presence of another person, rather than specifying a woman; saying he preferred taping women to taping men).
There are lots of little mysteries about the accessories: Cynthia and Graham each own a dart board. Does this mean anything? Is so, what? (Spader's then-wife was one of the people who decorated the set.) Really, my only quibble is that we never find out what Ann does in the job she ends up with. Does she, perhaps, recycle the garbage that allegedly concerned her when she was a rather desperate housewife? I would like to think that the job meant more than just a pay cheque, and maybe it does.
That is such a tiny point. Spader and San Giacomo are both, in my opinion, very sexy in this film, and that would be reason enough to watch it over and over again.
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