The film makes it apparent right off that Cynthia and John are having an affair. Since Ann is pretty much a virginal wifey-wife, a fact I can't think that John could not have known about, it kind of makes no sense that he and Ann had married (maybe it was due to pressure or he wanted a homebody trophy wife). Graham seems to have fallen on hard times (his past is very vague in the movie) and comes for a visit. He arrives while John is at work, and he and Ann fall into a conversation that quickly veers, at his "nonchalant" instigation, to sexual matters. Ann, being kind of tame and repressed, balks and wants to end the conversation. Soon it is suggested that Graham find his own apartment, which Ann helps out on. Once he moves in, she sees his videotaped interviews with women from his past, and inquires about them, and again, balks and is seemingly disgusted by the whole thing.
But she tells her sister about Graham's visit, and Cynthia is intrigued, bullying her sister to tell her the address of his new apartment. Ann feels either mothering or territorial; she doesn’t tell Cynthia the address. But somehow Cynthia finds out, goes to see Graham, and inveigles her way into his life. The conversation of course turns to the videos, Cynthia expresses an interest in doing one, and does so, revealing some things about herself.
The four dally around each other, Cynthia and John keeping their affair a secret, Ann achingly curious about her own sexuality and eventually finding out about the affair, some clues surface about how Graham has turned out the way he has.
At the start of watching this film I thought that Graham seemed the manipuative one, directing conversations with Ann toward sex, but as the film went on, he was shown to be more of the catalyst that brought out the true behaviors in the three other characters. As a result he actually was the least morally manipulative, his behavior wasn't hurting anyone but himself whereas the other three used him in varying degrees to hurt each other. His character had a lot of unsaid backstory that would make a good sequel or re-visiting of the story. (This movie was made over 20 years ago.)
When Ann gets up the nerve to do a video, the conversation quickly turns into an interview of Graham. Is that the first time he's done the answering? I think so. Nothing in Soderbergh's treatment of Graham makes him feel like a real predator or sexual manic in any way. There is a mention of an old girlfriend, a badly ended relationship, that makes me think Graham is trying to find a meaning to why it ended, and hoping that something one of these women in the videos might say will give him some closure. Something that will explain that the end of the relationship was not his fault.
Even though Cynthia was the most sexually open, she too seemed like she was looking for an avenue to release her own repression (living up to her mother's or sister's expectations, wanting a man although she was sexually polygamist), trying to goad John into giving more than he was giving her. I thought, though, what she revealed in the video was kind of tame (maybe that was the 1990-ish of it all).
The characters in the threesome seemed though like stock characters. Ann was the obedient wife, cooking, cleaning, dressing in white with bows in her hair; John the go-to lawyer that was all about making the big score; Cynthia the live-for-the-moment, not-planning-ahead kind of woman.
Although this movie made a big splash at Cannes, it does seem in hindsight to be kind of tame. What Cynthia, Ann, and an unnamed woman revealed in the videos wasn't sexually revealing as much as showing their inner selves that were not about sex. John of course reveals nothing and even at the end of the film he is the same character, unchanging. I am intrigued by Graham and wonder what afterstory he has.
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