sex, lies, and videotape (1989)

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. With smoldering sensuality and biting humor, the surprising relationship between the three title subjects is revealed in sex, lies, and videotape, the most-talked about erotic comedy of the decade. James Spader (TV's "Boston Legal") ran away with the Best Actor prize at the Cannes Film Festival for his brilliantly understated and seductive performance as Graham, a long-lost college friend who drifts back into town and into the lives of John,a self-involved philanderer, his angelic wife Ann, and her saucy sister Cynthia. One by one, each is drawn into the very "personal project" Graham is working on, leaving the relationships between them forever transformed. A monumental debut effort from first-time feature director Steven Soderbergh (Ocean's Twelve, Traffic, Erin Brockovich), this comic original includes riveting performances from Peter Gallagher (American Beauty), Andie MacDowell (Michael) and Laura San Giacomo (TV's "Just Shoot Me"). When an intriguing visitor arrives with videotapes of women confessing their sexual secrets, he turns the lives of three people inside out.