NEWS FEEDS
REVIEW: Secretary (2002)
Secretary
Rated: R
Runtime: 111 minutes
Starring: Maggie Gyllenhaal, James Spader.
My Rating: 4 stars.
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This is probably the oddest romance film ever made. It is strange, tense, perplexing and brilliant.
We meet Lee (Maggie Gyllenhaal) in the opening scene. She is in a pseudo-sexual contraption. There is a long bar stretching from wrist to wrist behind her neck. Her hands are shackled at the ends of it and she's walking around an office, putting sugar cubes into a coffee mug, holding a piece of paper in her mouth. She walks down a hallway, through a door and kicks it shut behind her. We're then taken six months back as Lee's story begins.
If that doesn't draw you in and make you want to know what is going on, turn off the film now.
Now, for the rest of you.
Secretary is a psychological treat that hits on sexuality, personality, love and devotion. Lee is a masochist fresh out from the insane asylum. Her alcoholic father beats her mother, and her mother doesn't have the strength to leave. Lee cuts herself whenever she gets upset. She sees the blood and feels better. She's been doing it in secret for years until she's finally caught one day and sent to the hospital.
Once she's out, her mother wants her to get a job. She applies for a secretary position at Edward Grey's (James Spader) office. When she walks in for the interview, he immediately puts her through a series of seemingly random tests. It's all just to see how far she will let him go.
You see, Edward is derives his pleasure from being in control. He sees Lee as an easy submissive. The fun now begins.
Edward watches Lee perform her daily tasks at the office. He is brutally honest and demanding, each time pushing the envelope to see how far he can go. Eventually he discovers her cutting habit and tells her she mustn't cut again.
Without cutting, Lee is lost, and Edward knows it. She sees the blood and latches onto it as a tangible source of her inner pain. Lee really just wants someone to love her, but neither her mother or father do. She also has a fiance that doesn't fill the void. Edward at least seems to care.
He becomes more harsh on her for her mistakes. He uses a red pen to circle typos in her letters. When she continues to make mistakes, he asks her in her office and, while she reads the letter, spanks her. He hits her so hard it leaves marks. Lee immediately loves it, and begins to see Edward like she did blood caused by her cutting.
Now, every time she sees the red circles on her letters, she gets excited. She knows she's going to be spanked and subsequently pleasured. Edward and Lee do not have intercourse in these sessions, but each is sexually aroused. Surprisingly, I began to look forward to the scenes, too.
That's due to the performances from Gyllenhaal and Spader, and the direction of Steven Shainberg. It's a Pavlovian effect. The red circles get us and Lee salivating. The result is an on-screen climax we may be afraid to watch, but can't turn away. We're intrigued, yet horrified. It only gets better from here.
The sadomasochist relationship is revealed to us in the first hour of the film. There needs to be a conflict for this movie to progress because showing us this strange courtship only holds our attention so long. The problem comes when Lee wants the relationship to be real and outside of the office. She starts to take independent steps. Edward has none of it and instantly retreats. She has to get him back and stops at nothing to do so.
Not a lot of people will love this movie, simply because of its oddness. The actual scary thing about Secretary is that there are real people exactly like this. You may not know any. I don't think I know any, but they are there. One might even be reading this.
I think this film would be uncomfortable to watch with people you don't know that well. I wouldn't say to work colleagues, “Hey, come over and we'll watch Secretary.” No, I think this is one you and your friends — unless they are good ones — should watch independently and discuss later. My father recommended it to me, and I'm not sure how I would have felt sitting next to him watching it.
It is very tense and disturbing, but at its heart, it's a love story. It's certainly not one we've seen before or since. Edward and Lee have many personal issues, but they are meant for each other. The finale has some of the most awesome moments I can recall in a film.
Those daring to watch Secretary need to have an open mind. Like I already wrote, stop the film after the first two minutes if you don't like what you see there. It would only get worse for you. For the rest of you, Secretary will become a movie you will never forget. Four stars.
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