Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Oooo! It hurts so good.
The joy of SECRETARY lies in its characters, all of whom are quirky (to say the least). And if you leave the film thankful that you run with "normal" folks, then you probably just don't know the person in the adjacent work cube all that well.As the film begins, Lee Holloway (Maggie Gyllenhaal) has just been released from institutional therapy. Lee has a level of self-esteem that's abysmal to the point of involving self-mutilation with sharp objects. (She even has her own first aid kit to disinfect and treat the wounds as soon as she makes them!) And whatever therapy she got didn't stick. But, life goes on, so she takes a typing class, and subsequently lands a job as a SECRETARY for the perfectionist lawyer "Mr. Grey" (James Spader). Mutual assessment soon reveals potential for an S&M relationship where Grey is the "S" and Lee the "M". Courting, so to speak, and foreplay involve the boss making increasingly difficult demands of Lee's job performance with the mutual understanding that the latter will fail and punishment will follow. And what's a poor girl to do when making deliberate spelling errors in legal correspondence just doesn't push Grey's lust button anymore? Spader's Grey persona is so deliciously creepy - not sinister, just creepy - that his paralegal does her work in such an unusual hiding place that she's rarely seen, even by the audience. And the delightful Gyllenhaal's portrayal of Holloway is so otherwise girl-next-door, except for her preoccupation with cutting edges, that I'm now surreptitiously scrutinizing our office secretaries for barely-hidden scars. And Jeremy Davies is terrific as Lee's nominal boyfriend, the painfully pathetic Peter. While SECRETARY was in the theaters, it probably wasn't a film that you would've taken your prim and proper grandmother to see for her day trip away from the assisted care facility. It has some artistically done full-frontal nudity and a couple scenes of X-rated heavy breathing. SECRETARY is a stylish and darkly humorous treatment of a delicate subject that allows the viewer to snicker without the guilty feeling of having been discovered with a dirty magazine. (Of course, if Granny finds it knee-slapping funny, you might want to rethink your assumptions about her younger years.) My only complaint was that the ending is perhaps a little too drawn out and tidy. A snappier, more edgy conclusion would have made the film a perfect gem. Now, where did I stash those red, felt tip markers? I have to proof an associate's work.
Rating:  - As Close to Reality as it Gets!
As a woman who actually practices the fine art of D/s in my everyday life, I want to applaud the makers of this wonderfully warm film!! I have seen way too many movies that deal with the emotional aspects of submission as being ones that are entirely negative. This film hit the nail on the head when it showed that submissive women find strength in their surrender.
It also let the viewer see that Dominant men aren't monsters but just irregular regular guys trying to co-exist with their hidden desires to control their partners in ways that are beneficial to both. I'm no pro at writing so I hope I'm saying this well.....but simply, if you want to gain some understanding of people who choose this alternative lifestyle and how it changes them for the better, see this movie!!!
Rating: - Offbeat comedy, treading where others have feared to go
This film deals with the eroticism of classic dominance and submission. And yet it's a quirky character-driven romantic comedy. Maggie Gyllenhaal stars as Lee, a young woman who has just been released from a mental hospital. Seems she's into self-mutilation and even though her mother hides all the knives in the house, Lee still manages do some surreptitious cuts on her inner thighs with her manicure implements. Soon, she gets a secretarial job for a lawyer, played by James Spader. It's a rather strange office where they still use old-fashioned manual typewriters. Weird details like this keep the story unreal.In spite of a rather placid romance with another former mental hospital graduate, Jeremy Davis, there's no doubt that Lee is attracted to her boss, who shows signs of having his own compulsive mental problems. Eventually, she makes some typographical errors. Her boss then has her bend over the desk while he administers a spanking. She's immediately turned on and starts to pursue him. The script does well in that it makes the secretary both vulnerable and plucky at the same time. There's a lot of character development. She's a fine actress and seems to own the role. James Spader and Jeremy Davis are excellent as well. The script does not do well when it lapses into dreamy fantasy sequences which slow down the action. It's also longer than it needs to be and makes the same points too many times. And the ending is ridiculous and doesn't grow intrinsically from the plot. The best thing about "Secretary" is that it's different and treads where others have feared to go. The tone is lighthearted throughout and there are some real connections between the characters during the erotic scenes. However, it sure isn't for everybody. And some people will find it quite uncomfortable to watch. I enjoyed it but it just had too many faults for me to give it more than a lukewarm recommendation.
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