Secretary
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Movie Reviews of Secretary
Movie Review: Sinemaerotica
Summary: 5 Stars
A quirksome little film focusing on the sublimated dominance / submission dynamic between the secretary and her boss. A girl fresh out of college takes on a job at an attorney's office where the two work out their latent sado-masochistic tendencies upon each other, and what may actually occur if certain business policies were not enforced. It speaks to the fact that indulgence does indeed occur in office buildings frequently, for they are caves of the humanimal beast of the field after all, and nature will out no matter the environment. Here, it all starts with a typo - typo turns into `misbehavior', and eventually misbehavior turns into punishment - a literal spanking ponderously administered which thereby evolves into all manner of colloquial humiliation and command mutually indulged, to the point where she would not even eat if it were not with his permission - and she was perfect - indeed, herself becoming her own little "Miss Behavior", at times purposefully mis-spelling a word, just to enjoy her grateful punishment at the hands of her domineering Master. It becomes so much a part of her sexuality, as she derived her E.C.I. with that first spanking, and reaches climax every time.
But one day, the pleasures cease as abruptly as they began, to her profound disappointment, and she begs for her sweet punishments again. She attempts all of the usually methods of seduction - from gifts to cards to flowers, to a plunging neckline, but to no avail. Until finally, she realizes that she must do something `naughty' to attract his attention, subsequently a large worm in his mail, to which he draws a thick red line around it to mark her error, as he had been doing prior all along, like the authority figure she craves. This causes a reaction that was most unexpected indeed, as he satisfies himself with just the view of her bent over with her skirt hiked up and pantyhose pulled down. Finally, she is fired because he does not fully comprehend the sub/dom dynamic himself, and henceforth abruptly fires her, leaving her isolated from the one she loves, despite the amorous attentions she derives from some spineless loser she had been seeing, whom she was about to actually marry, until her desperate passion eventually bade her to return to the office again at the last moment, where she proclaims her love for him. At first he seeks to remove her, but she remains adamant so he finally issues a command, that she remain at the table with her hands flat thereupon where he leaves her for three days during which she is "counseled" by friends and even clergy to cease, yet her love-filled determination bids her onwards. He finally releases her from her long-suffering, and carries her to a bathtub where he bathes her and loves her until she becomes his wife.
So here we have seen the subconscious covert, transforming to overt expressions made with artistic license to cinematically exemplify the underlying relationship between boss and secretary, sexually subjectified, although such a scenario does carry strains of actuality, and is feasible after all, as relative to the D/s Lifestyle, and is portrayed quite well with the psychological fetish play.
The film begins rather innocuously, becoming more and more interesting, building to a crescendo in the middle, drops off in disappointment, then gradually builds up again unto a most pleasing ending. Her infatuation and subsequent love is impressive overall, and they are both rewarded in the end.
Movie Review: Delicious and steamy comedy-drama
Summary: 5 Stars
I suppose I may be impartial due to the fact that this may well be one of my favorite movies of all time, but there is so much beauty in this script, it's hard to refrain from telling everyone I know! This is a movie that is definitely not for everyone but the first time I saw this, it left me wanting to watch it again. Some people will watch this and say "Wow" while others will say "What the hell did I just watch?"
The movie begins with a fabulous performance by Maggie Gyllenhaal in her first starring role, as Lee, a troubled soul who finds comfort in self-mutilation, leaving a mental hospital. After a stint for cutting too deep - "I don't know how I could have misjudged, I've been doing it since the seventh grade..." - she returns home to her dysfunctional family to try to begin life over again with the skills she has obtained from the institute. Soon it seems, everything returns right back to the way it was - her father's out-of-control drinking, her parents fighting, her impulsively wanting to cut herself, but Peter enters and she finds some comfort in her high-school friend.
Lee enters a class in college to learn to type and soon is an efficient enough typist to decide to apply for a job she found in the paper, secretary. James Spader, as attorney E. Edward Grey, who is also fabulous in this movie, enters as the neurotic, offbeat attorney. From the beginning we find that Mr. Grey has his faults - ever wonder why there is a permanent "Secretary Wanted" sign outside his office?
Mr. Grey begins to get more and more "strict" it would seem with Lee, commonly using humiliation as a way to intimidate Lee. One day Mr. Grey sits Lee down and asks her about the cutting - he has several times noticed signs of such. He has a wonderful heart-to-heart with Lee and it is apparent that something between the two of them click as he tells her she will never cut herself again, have her mother pick her up from work and he lets her leave for the day, telling her to walk home through the park because she "requires relief." Lee feels something inside of her and Mr. Grey growing and she senses a form of freedom deep inside herself because her gave her "permission" to do so. But the next day, he is back to humiliating her, which ultimately leads to spankings and a world of sadism and masochism.
The beautiful part of the film finds Lee slowly coming out of her shell and finding more confidence in who and what she is. Mr. Grey brings something out in her that she was not aware she had. Slowly, she finds herself attracted to Mr. Grey and his faults, while Mr. Grey finds that although Lee brings out something in him, he is too conflicted to understand himself. He too cares for Lee, who helps him fulfill his needs, yet he feels disgusted because of what he does.
Then the day comes along in which Mr. Grey decides he cannot continue to live like this - he feels that if Lee does not go, he will not be able to stop engaging in the activity that he, as employer and Lee, as employee, partake. The movie climaxes here and finds two souls lost until they found each other, broken apart. What happens to them? What happens to Peter? I'm not going to divulge any more of this movie as I'm sure I have gone on enough, but trust me when I say that this is a must-see movie. You may not like it, or you might, but just watch it. I guarantee it'll be like no movie you've seen before!
Movie Review: "Secretary" is actually a cute love story about S&M
Summary: 5 Stars
Believe it or not the word that kept coming to mind as I watched "Secretary" was "cute." This might strike you as strange given that it is a movie about sadomasochism, but this was the word my wife kept using during the last half of this 2002 film from director Steven Shainberg. I checked out "Secretary" because I heard it was "quirky," which is usually not synonymous with "cute." "Secretary" benefits from perfect casting, with James Spader as Mr. Grey, the paralegal, and Maggie Gyllenhaal as Miss Holloway, the titular character. Obviously, when the word "cute" arises it is intended primarily to describe Gyllenhaal, which is important because her character could be written off as a pathetic soul instead of someone who provokes our sympathy (and perhaps our admiration as well). Miss Holloway has just been released from a mental institution; she likes to cut herself and the last time she went a bit too far. Now her mother (Lesley Ann Warren) locks up all the knives and the young woman goes off into the world to find her first job. She has excellent typing scores but there is something else that makes Mr. Grey hire her when she goes to her first interview, and several weeks later when she makes an error on a letter we discover what it is: these two were made for each other and soon Miss Holloway is making mistakes on purpose so that Mr. Grey can discipline her.
There are three things that make this movie work at this point. The first is that Mr. Grey orders her to stop cutting herself. Now her pain is going to be administered primarily in terms of spanking, which is nowhere nearly as dangerous as piercing her flesh with sharp objects. She is, by objective standards, better off under his control. The second is that Miss Holloway never expresses fear over what she is being asked to do. Her complete acceptance, combined with the previous point, aid in our acceptance of the situation. The third is that underneath it all "Secretary" is a standard love story. Two people looking for love find each other and struggle to make a complete connection that will allow them to build a life together. There are other characters in this film, but they are all minor players in the main drama between Mr. Grey and Miss Holloway.
Long ago we discovered that in a romance film the "I love you" line is almost never those three particular worlds. It is "Here's looking at you kid," "Where are my slippers," or something equally memorable. "Secretary" is no different in that regard, although it is obviously a film where actions speak louder than words. This is the story of two people who have a love that they are able to make work. That is nothing to laugh at, and, indeed, the film saves its funniest moments for a time when the relationship has been resolved. This is, despite expectations to the contrary and the utter surprise of a large portion of the audience, a cute film.
Final note: Make a point of considering how nudity is used in this film. I think the point in "Secretary" in which the nudity becomes more that brief is rather surprising and it made me think about why it was at that particular point it was used. There is significance to this choice that needs to be appreciated.
Movie Review: Surprise: "Secretary" is a heartbreakingly beautiful comedy
Summary: 5 Stars
The opening scene of "Secretary" drops the viewer into the middle of the narrative. In a shot that will be repeated 55 minutes later, Lee carries out a variety of office duties with poise and efficiency --despite the fact that she is wearing a bizarre and uncomfortable-looking restraint that holds her arms straight out at the shoulders. The first time around the scene seems odd, almost repugnant; Lee lopes with unnerving calm to (longtime David Lynch collaborator) Angelo Badalamenti's creepy score around a unsettlingly baroque office. Then, abruptly, a title card: "six months earlier". The narrative proper begins.
At first, it's unclear what this circuitous opening adds to the story, apart from an element of suspense that might not be if the events unfolded in strict chronological order: the opening scene presents a big "What?"; we wait anxiously to learn the "Why". What other purpose this scene might serve becomes clear with its reprise. By then a subtle understanding of its context is possible. The remarkable Maggie Gyllenhaal imbues Lee with such supple humanity that the viewer has become more than sympathetic, and understands how much this long-suffering, unassumingly brave woman is enjoying herself, arm-restraints and all. The scene is no longer unsettling, but celebratory. The scene hasn't changed. Maybe we have. Director Steven Shainberg, on the DVD commentary track, says he hopes that his film will do for S&M what "My Beautiful Laundrette" did for homosexuality almost 20 years ago-- increase mainstream understanding. Perhaps it will.
On the same commentary track, the film's writer Erin Cressida Wilson says that the uncertain "Um....." Lee utters after Edward has administered the first blow in the justly famous spanking scene is Wilson's "Favorite line". She then chuckles, and modestly refrains from explaining what she means. Why it's good: Although this pivotal scene is fraught with emotion, Lee's tentative "Um....." is the only line of dialogue in it that acknowledges, even obliquely, what is taking place. Unlike the painfully verbose, excruciatingly clever screenwriters who currently plague independent film, Wilson realizes that what people say may be only tangentially related to what they mean, or are thinking, or what's happening, and that great feeling may lurk behind the most banal or fragmentary remark. "Secretary" is one of the strictest, fullest applications of this principle imaginable (Each page of the screenplay must contain one column each for speech and subtext). Never glib, never clever, just smart, "Secretary" is certainly a comedy of some sort, but it contains nothing that exactly qualifies as a joke. Its minimal dialogue leaves wide expanses in which the actors can and must communicate non-verbally. The leads are up to the task. Gyllenhaal ("JILL-in-hall") and the always watchable James Spader make adept use of the full actor's arsenal: facial expression, posture -watch Lee's gait change in the course of the film-, verbal pauses and inflection create a world of meaning beneath deceptively mundane, often monosyllabic, dialogue. Tune into these actors' peculiar wavelength and be spellbound.
Movie Review: Romance, comedy and BDSM: What's not to like?
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a paradigmatic "cult movie." You'll either love it and run out to buy the DVD, or you'll be some combination of baffled and repulsed. The briefest description I can give is that this movie is sort of what a screwball romantic comedy would be like if it were written by the Marquis de Sade.
Lee Holloway (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is a "cutter" (i.e., she inflicts cuts on herself intentionally to deal with the pain and anxiety in her life). She accidentally cut too deep one time, so her family had her institutionalized. She has just been released, and is looking for a job, despite having a complete lack of work experience.
E. Edward Gray (James Spader) is an attorney. When Lee shows up to apply for a job at his office, the reception area looks like a battle scene, and the old secretary is leaving in tears. Gray then asks Lee a series of impertinent questions: "Are you pregnant? Do you plan on being pregnant? Do you live alone?" She ingenuously answers his questions and is hired that day.
Their relationship only gets odder as time goes on. There is obvious sexual tension between the (virginal, we assume) Lee and the recently divorced Gray. Step by step, they escalate from intimate boss-employee conversations to out and out BDSM.
This bare summary makes the story seem dark and sinister. But if you have a morbid sensibility, you'll find yourself chuckling at the movie's sly humor, and being touched by the budding romance between Lee and Gray.
Spader gives, as usual, a fine performance, but Gyllenhaal is just terrific. Without her the movie would not work. She has to seem innocent yet kinky. She has to believable as a person with serious psychological problems, while having an intoxicating effervescence about her. She must manifeset subtle and complex expressions in key scenes. She does it all.
One key scene is the first time Gray disciplines Lee. He humiliates her for a typographical error in a letter she typed, makes her bend over his desk, and then spanks her while forcing her to read the letter out loud. Gyllenhaal's face and voice capture exquisitely the combination of shock, humiliation and arousal that the scene requires. When Gray is finished spanking Lee, he leans forward over her, obviously spent from his effort. His hand is next to hers, and her pinky reaches out to grasp his hand, a subtle indication of the intimacy that they have shared.
This intimacy is important, because it becomes clear that the relationship between Gray and Lee is not just about kinky sex. They are in love, and they need each other. But will the relationship work out? Ironically, although Gray is the "Dom," he is the one who needs Lee to guide him by her submission. But doing so requires that he trust her enough to open up to her.
And, yes, it's also a comedy. Trust me.
The movie is based on a fine short story, "Secretary," by Mary Gaitskill, in her collection _Bad Behavior_, which is a great read (although much darker than this movie).