This is the film, for me, that cements my opinion on Steven Soderbergh. I saw where he was coming from when he made Traffic, even if it wasn't that great to me and really enjoyed Ocean's Eleven not for what the story was but for the way it was told. Here, Soderbergh has made a film and a debut film it must be said that shows he not only understands film but also how to unwind a story, give us characters who are believable and how to present the action on screen through the compositions; that is that he knows how to use the camera.

Sex, Lies, and Videotape is an example of how to utilise a basic domestic problem with a relationship in a film but give it a voyeuristic twist, artistic camera-work and how to manipulated time and space. There are people who study voyeurism in film like it's a religion and camcorders in a film is a sure fire way to get those sorts of people excited but that's just the beginning of Sex, Lies, & Videotape. The film uses a straightforward problem as its drive for the narrative; that problem is a married man having an affair. What follows is a reunion with a friend called Graham Dalton (Spader) that the husband will really wish he hadn't set up as Dalton brings not only voyeurism but a threat to the exposure of the affair. Ann Mullany (MacDowell), whose husband John (Gallagher) is having the affair is presented as a shy and straightforward woman perhaps living an American Dream of her own: nice house, money, food on the table, etc. but despite these humane and friendly traits, she is in a position she doesn't know about  she may not like sex that much but John does and with people other than herself. This means these two people are sort of binary opposites to one another and yet they are joined by marriage  an accident waiting to happen so already; Sex, Lies, and Videotape is creating a pressure cooker of events and characters who look set to explode once the dirty gets out.

I mentioned that I thought Soderbergh's camera-work was really impressive in this film and that is a true statement. So often camera-work can go unnoticed or without acclaim but the way it's utilised in the film oozes of class. Take the scene in which some characters are arguing at a dinner table; the argument ends with a long take showing us the climax of it. One character is in the kitchen and we see this thanks to a shot in the corner of the room where the ceiling meets the wall; almost from the stairs if there were any there. This is the sort of angle you'd get from a close circuit television (CCTV) camera or a surveillance camera you get in security rooms: we are watching the argument from on high, surveying the area as if we have a link with the world in which the film is being set; we are observant through the most voyeuristic shot possible: the security camera shot since when you're watching someone through one of those, you can see them but they can't see you.

Another incident occurs when John is on the phone to the girl he's having an affair with and yet the camera is set up to just include a photograph of Ann who's staring at John the whole time he's on the phone organising an illegal get-together. Not only does this tell us that John's wrong doing seemingly leaves him with a clear conscience as he talks to his mistress but also gives us enough information to have us form a very negative opinion of the character. Sex, Lies, and Videotape is also very good at combining genres since its brief pauses for scenes with the therapist and the barfly character act as pit stops away from the home and away from the lust and distrust. Not only this but they act as a good reason for humour and for Ann to tell us as well as the therapist what's she's thinking. We may ask the questions the therapist asks; we (the males, at least) may also have tried what the barfly tries and offer her some relief even though the barfly has no idea what she's been through  we do. This is why the barfly isn't put across as a complete lout: just a friendly looking and soft spoken person looking for companionship which is at a far-fetched level, exactly what Ann is.

Sex, Lies, and Videotape is a fantastic film to look into and a film that will live on for its content especially its acting; Spader in particular who comes across as a nervous, perhaps too confident guy who has his own personal ways of turning himself on involving woman and cameras but the film is great for its subject matter, the way it handles its subject matter and the way it presents its subject matter.