Sex, Lies, and Videotape is the 1989 film which first brought national attention to director Steven Soderbergh. The film stars Andie MacDowell and Peter Gallagher as a troubled married couple, Laura San Giacomo as the sister of MacDowell's character and the lover of Gallagher's, and James Spader, who arrives at the start of the film as a guest of the couple with an unusual "personal project" in progress.

The film was written by Soderbergh in eight days and filmed on a $1.2 million budget. It was a winner of the Palme d'Or at Cannes as well as an award at the Sundance Film Festival; it was nominated for an Oscar and three Golden Globe Awards.

The film was instrumental in the early, pre-digital success of the independent film, and boosted the careers of Soderbergh and the four major cast members.