The winner of the Palme d'Or at Cannes, Steven Soderbergh's debut feature was made for just $1.2 million. Although it took an uncompromisingly adult approach to sex, it wasn't explicit nudity (of which there is none) that made this intelligent film so controversial, but the intimacy of the drama and the frankness of the dialogue. A genuine slow-burner, it takes its time introducing us to the quartet of main characters. Peter Gallagher is a lawyer having an affair with his sister-in-law (Laura San Giacomo), who has always resented the prissiness of her perfect sibling (Andie MacDowell). However, we never really discover anything about Graham (James Spader), the long-lost friend who forces the other three to re-examine their motives and desires. Where does his money come from and why does he have tapes of women confiding their innermost sexual secrets? It's this ambiguity that makes Spader's character the most fascinating of the quartet and goes some way to explaining why he won best actor at Cannes.

Ann, a frustrated wife, enters into counseling due to a troubled marriage. Unbeknownst to her, her husband John has begun an affair with her sister. When John’s best friend Graham arrives, his penchant for interviewing women about their sex lives forever changes John and Ann’s rocky marriage.