History Film / SexLiesAndVideotape

* BettyAndVeronica: John (Archie) is married with Ann (Betty), who is a nice girl. He has an affair with Cynthia (Veronica), who is hot-tempered and extrovert. For example, when Cynthia wants to make love to him, she gives him a phone call and asks him to come immediately.

* LoveDodecahedron: John is married with Ann, he has an affair with Cynthia and he slept with Elizabeth. Ann is married with John, but she is attracted to Graham. Elizabeth was Graham's girlfriend, but she slept with John. Graham plans to take up with Elizabeth again, but he is attracted to Ann. (And he gets off watching videos of many women including Cynthia.)
* MadonnaWhoreComplex: {{Deconstructed|Trope}}. Ann is orderly and respectable, while her sister Cynthia is a slut. John is married with Ann, but he gets bored with her and has an affair with Cynthia. Ann also reveals that she is dissatisfied with her orderly life. She files for divorce and she starts a relationship with Graham.

* SiblingTriangle: John is married with Ann and he has an affair with her sister Cynthia.

* ADateWithRosiePalms: Watching the sex interviews is how Graham gets off. Also, several women masturbate for him, including Cynthia.

!!'''''tropes, lies and videotape''''':

* TheMistress: Cynthia. John cheats on his wife with her on regular basis.

!!This movie contains examples of:

%%* {{Jerkass}}: John
%%* TheLoinsSleepTonight: Graham is impotent.

%%* SexIsInteresting

* {{Shoutout}}: To ''Film/ApocalypseNow''. In the bar where Cynthia works, a patron imitates Creator/MarlonBrando in his role of Colonel Kurtz, and utters the following lines: "Are you an assassin? ... You're an errand boy, sent by grocery clerks, to collect bills."

* GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex: Completely and famously inverted. The hero and the heroine have dysfunctional sex lives. The antagonists have lots of great sex.
* {{Jerkass}}: John
* TheLoinsSleepTonight: Graham is impotent.

* SexIsInteresting

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/image_5942.jpeg]]

** Subverted in that Ann reveals during her video confession that John was never really that pleasing for her.

''[[AllLowercaseLetters sex, lies, and videotape]]'' is a 1989 movie that marked the directorial debut of Creator/StevenSoderbergh. It launched the careers of Andie Macdowell and Creator/JamesSpader, but is most notable for [[GenreTurningPoint revolutionizing the modern indie film industry]], putting the Sundance Film Festival and Cannes Film Festival in the public awareness. The screenplay was nominated for an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward.

* HollywoodPersonalityDisorders: Graham was at one time (in the backstory) confident and hurtful (implied to have been something like a {{narcissist}}), but in his past had a HeelRealization leading to [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone intense guilt]]. The result was a HeelFaceTurn that left him [[TheAtoner extremely afraid to even give himself the chance to hurt people]]. His actions after that, including when the film takes place, somewhat approximate Avoidant Personality Disorder, brought on by guilt. [[spoiler:He appears to end up cured at the end by ThePowerOfLove.]]

* YourCheatingHeart:
** John is married, but he has an affair with his wife's sister Cynthia.
** Elizabeth slept with John when she was Graham's girlfriend.

* {{Adorkable}}: Graham has little to no social filter, and both Ann and Cynthia refer to him as being weird or strange (and this is before his hobby is revealed). [[spoiler:His lack of a social filter is because he's a recovering pathological liar, so he always tells the truth.]]

The movie tells the story of an unhappily married couple, up-and-coming lawyer John (Peter Gallagher) and sweet, sexually repressed Ann (Macdowell). John's having a torrid affair with Ann's sister, extroverted Cynthia (Laura San Giacomo). Matters are complicated with the arrival of Graham (Spader), an old college friend of John's, a mysterious and sensitive man who collects interviews of women about their sexual experiences.

* BettyAndVeronica: John (Archie) is married with Ann (Betty), who is a nice girl. He has an affair with Cynthia, who is hot-tempered and extrovert. For example, when Cynthia wants to make love to him, she gives him a phone call and asks him to come immediately.