Ann Milaney (Andie MacDowell) lives a suburban life in Louisiana, married to lawyer husband John (Peter Gallagher). She lives a comfortable existence, though she is deeply troubled by her melancholy personality. Introvert and unsure of herself, she fills her day thinking a lot about all the unhappiness in the world. The real problems lay with the basic unhappiness with her relationship with her husband. He is always busy and often works late into the night after office hours. She has a niggling feeling that all is not well with their relationship, and that he could possibly be having an affair. The main problem with Anne's existence is that she has nothing to do all day and she dwells upon her seemingly stagnent, unimportant role in life. A comment from Anne which just about sums her up is: "I've just got all this time on my hands". So is her discontentment born of this? Or is it something else that is troubling her that she can't quite put her finger on?

Graham is really quite an odd character and he has an intense quality about him that is quite disarming and he is the type of person that can make you feel quite uncomfortable, with his silences and direct line of questioning. Anne has an extrovert sister Laura (San Giacomo) who is overtly sexual, sleeps around a lot and is the total opposite to Anne, with her quiet ways and faithful nature. Anne is constantly reprimanding Laura for her blatant display of sexual behaviour.

Sex, lies and videotape is quite well summed up by the film title. It is a clever, intelligent film from Steven Soderbergh. Basically 'Sex, Lies and Video Tape' is a tale of voyeurism and infidelity, feelings and relationships. Quietly spoken and beautifully shot, the film is a story of personalities and feelings, and all four characters intertwine and interconnect in a bizarre series of events, culminating in an obvious outcome I felt. Soderbergh's impressive directorial debut shows the peeling away of layers of each character, to reveal their true personalities and the complexities of human nature. Secrets are uncovered and lies exposed amidst a tense drama which is fascinating to watch. Although the film's title suggests sex, there is very little contained within the film. It is more the suggestion that lies are related to sex, and in this films case that is exactly what is entailed.

The film is quite static in its scene changes also and there is hardly any location work going on here. But the film is not about scenery it's about the emotions and personalities of these four people. Human and beautifully shot the film observes how the characters react to the events unfolding. European in its feel, Sex, Lies and Videotape will not appeal to all. But if you like a quiet purposeful film, with slow pace and an interesting story of human nature then I recommend this to you. This film was well received in Cannes and won the Golden Palm Award for director and also 'Best Actor Award' for James Spader. Then aged only 26, Soderbergh was the youngest director to win the festival's top award. The film was a huge success and played a large part in contributing to the 1990s independent film revolution. Amazingly, Soderbergh wrote Sex, Lies and Video Tape in just eight days.