The Showdown on the Croisette
The 1989 Cannes Film Festival had two American films at its center. First, there was Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing, a vibrant, furious, and deeply empathetic look at racial tensions boiling over on a single hot day in Brooklyn. It was the movie on everyone’s
lips, a work of social and cinematic importance that felt urgent and essential. Critics and audiences were floored. Then there was the dark horse: sex, lies, and videotape. The debut feature from a 26-year-old unknown named Steven Soderbergh, it was a quiet, cerebral, and psychologically complex film about four people entangled in a web of deceit and desire. Where Lee’s film was an explosive Molotov cocktail of color and sound, Soderbergh’s was a cool, collected, and talky indie that heralded a new wave of low-budget American filmmaking.
The Verdict and the Fury
When the jury, led by German director Wim Wenders, announced its decision, the room was stunned. The top prize, the Palme d'Or, went not to Lee, but to the young upstart Soderbergh. sex, lies, and videotape also won the Best Actor prize for James Spader. Do the Right Thing left with nothing. Lee was, to put it mildly, furious. He publicly stated he had a “Louisville Slugger bat with Wenders’ name on it,” a comment he later called immature but that perfectly captured his sense of being robbed. According to Lee, other jury members like Sally Field told him that Wenders had commandeered the jury, arguing that Lee's character, Mookie, was not heroic for throwing a trash can through the pizzeria window—an act that ignites the film's climactic riot following the police killing of Radio Raheem.
A Clash of Cinematic Revolutions
So, what was the real reason? It wasn't just about one jury president's opinion. Wenders himself has long denied he acted alone, stating the jury simply didn't have enough support for Lee's film in a particularly strong year. The upset represented a fundamental clash between two different ideas of what the future of American cinema should be. Do the Right Thing, though produced by a major studio, was a radical act of political filmmaking that confronted America's racial sickness head-on. Some critics at the time even worried it would incite riots. sex, lies, and videotape, meanwhile, was a revolution of a different kind. It was the Sundance kid, a low-budget, dialogue-driven film that proved you could make compelling, adult cinema outside the studio system. It was personal, intimate, and focused on psychology over sociology. For a European-leaning jury, Soderbergh’s art-house sensibilities may have felt more aligned with the festival’s ethos than Lee’s raw, political anger.
How History Judged the Upset
In the decades since, history has been kind to both films, but arguably kinder to the loser. sex, lies, and videotape is remembered as the film that kicked off the American independent film boom of the 1990s, launching Soderbergh into a legendary career. It was a pivotal moment that changed the business. But Do the Right Thing has transcended its initial controversy to become an undisputed masterpiece, studied in film schools and considered by many to be one of the greatest American films ever made. Its themes remain painfully relevant, and its artistic power is undiminished. The sense that it was robbed in 1989 has only added to its legendary status. Even the late, great critic Roger Ebert, who adored the film, was appalled by the jury's decision.
