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Directed by Steven Soderbergh Starring James Spader, Andie MacDowell, Peter Gallagher |
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~review by cyndi wong on june 1, 2002 I didn’t know anything about this movie before I saw it, and I was really surprised. What I thought was going to be a film that revolved around how sex defined the relationships of people (I was just going off the title), turned out to be very much about how people and their relationships define what sex means to them. Andie Macdowell gives a startlingly strong performance as Ann, a sexually timid housewife who at times feels a bit like a fish out of water when it comes to her discomfort with the topic of sex. Peter Gallagher is John, her husband, a manipulative philandering lawyer whose latest girlfriend Cynthia happens to be the local bartender…oh, and Ann’s sister. Their lives get a little more complicated when Graham, an old buddy of Gallagher’s shows up to stay with them for a few days. At first, Gallagher uses Graham to distract his wife so as to give him some alone time with her sister, but soon Macdowell and Graham form a unique if not bizarre friendship on their own. The “videotape” in the title refers to Graham’s collection of documentary-style interviews that he has recorded over the years of different women talking about sex. These tapes are not about eroticism or cheapness; on the contrary, I thought they embodied a kind of intimacy and truth that the sexaholics in the film (John and Cynthia) could never achieve. There are some movements that are awkward in the film, but there were also parts that were very stylishly beautiful, the kind of look I would want for a movie that I made. In the opening sequence, we see Graham pull into town while we hear a voiceover of Macdowell speaking with her therapist. It’s simple, but very well done. Ditto with the dinner scene, where the camera tracks around the table, catching each character in turn—it’s simple, but somehow very very nice. Finally, near the end there is a fantastic scene where John watches one of Graham’s videotapes. I’ve seen Peter Gallagher in a British comedy on Broadway, and of course some of his other films, but EVERY time it surprises me that he is always cast as the man that all the women want (While You Were Sleeping, American Beauty), but there is little doubt that he is a capable actor. I thought his reaction shots in this scene were just captivating, and his acting worked really well with what the camera was doing—some good direction on Soderbergh’s part. |
| “The organ itself seemed like a, a separate thing, um, a separate entity to me. I mean, when he finally pulled it out, and I could look at it and touch it, I completely forgot that there was a guy attached to it." – cynthia |