Secretary
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Movie Reviews of Secretary
Movie Review: Gyllenhaal & Spader shine
Summary: 5 Stars
I suppose I should be wracked with feminist guilt for enjoying SECRETARY as much as I did, but instead I must rave about the amazing performances of Maggie Gyllenhaal and James Spader. This film frankly tackles sexuality, gender, age and experience as they relate to power and control, in fairly explicit terms. I'm a big James Spader fan from way back. I have a great soft spot for his gloriously self-indulgent 'Yuppie scum' performances from The Brat Pack years, elements of which are seen here along with significant influence of his roles in SEX LIES AND VIDEOTAPE and WHITE PALACE.
Spader's E. Edward Grey is obsessed with big red Sharpie markers, orchids, humane mousetraps and sugary coffee. And spanking, just to name a few things. He's created a false pastoral environment in his office, carefully watering and feeding his orchids among the sickly green paneling and placing a row of dying houseplants along the dark hallway leading up to his office. The light in the office is murky, giving the impression that nothing could grow there, but could definitely fester.
Maggie Gyllenhaal gives a gutsy performance as Lee Holloway, Mr. Grey's secretary and eventual counterpart in a submissive/dominant relationship. Lee, like Mr. Grey, is delicate and high-strung. We see Lee just released from a six-month stint in an institution to attend her sister's pink, plastic, Florida poolside wedding. She stands apart from both the other guests and her family at the reception, enveloped in an ill-fitting blue dress and the viewer is not surprised when she retreats to her bedroom and methodically begins cutting her thigh.
As Lee and Mr. Grey become drawn to one another, Lee begins evolving into a more confident, attractive woman. Her shapeless clothes and sloppy sweaters are traded in for knee-length skirts, nylons and heels. When Mr. Grey tells her that she doesn't need to cut herself anymore, she actually throws away her implements. She comes to thrive on his attention, starting with his gleeful discovery of typing errors to circle with his red pens and slowly escalating to more explicit behavior.
The biggest surprise of the film lies in the fact that at its core it is a romance. A twisted, non-standard situation, but a romance nonetheless. After much emotional drama these two damaged characters have found kindred, obsessive, kinky, needy souls in one another and you leave the film thinking that they just might be able to make it work.
Movie Review: Only for the Open Minded
Summary: 5 Stars
I will willingly watch any movie of any kind, and go along with the story so long as it keeps me under its spell. Which is exactly what this movie did for me. It's my new favorite movie."Secretary" is funny (in it's own strange way) and absolutely mesmerizing. If you can get past the fact that every character in this movie is bizarre and just go with it, you will love it. It's been awhile since a movie has made me this happy. I've been watching far too many depressing and unoriginal movies that left me feeling like the future of my attending a movie screening bleak.
Lee has just been released from an institution, and it's the day of her sister's wedding. Early on, she is very odd and you wonder what the heck is going on. She's cutting herself, and her father is an alcoholic. Life is not very happy for our dear odd bird, Lee. Then she applies for her first job as secretary to E. Edward Grey. Her existence takes quite a turn once working for Mr. Grey.
Mr. Grey is into S&M, and when Lee starts making typos, he gives the bad girl something to remember him by. She loves every minute. This is what floats their boat, so to speak...If it makes them happy then so be it.
Per his request, she stops cutting. He also tells her what to do all the time, even what to eat for dinner, and she gladly obliges. She does everything he tells her. Underneath her submissiveness, Lee is embarking on a very weird journey into finding herself and falls in love.
It has some great dialogue, too. Now when I answer the phones at work, I smile and laugh to myself, and all I can think of is this movie.
It's brilliantly acted by all the actors especially Maggie. Her performance was the best of all actresses in the year 2002 that I had to the distinct pleasure to witness. She took on the role and truly made it a spectacle to see. It was like watching a caterpillar turn into a butterfly. I thought that she and James Spader had an amazing chemistry together.
I say to each is own, some of us appreciate films that push the buttons of others. This film is worth watching.
Also, I am a Secretary myself, and couldn't help but laugh at a lot of the scenes between Lee and Mr. Grey. I've worked for some real strange men, but no one was quite like E. Edward. This movie should be shown on Sundance on April 23rd, to pay homage to all secretaries like me.
Movie Review: A WINNING MOVIE. HERE'S WHY.
Summary: 5 Stars
Before being the sexy submissive, she attended the rather superior and notable Columbia University in New York City. That's right, folks. Maggie Gyllenhaal (who plays Lee Holloway) earned her bachelors in English at this well-acclaimed school. But who cares about where she got her acting schools. Man, where did she get those fabulous LEGS that we see on the case cover? But the real question is where in the world did she meet a character like Mr. E. Edward Grey (James Spader)?Lee Holloway had just completed some time at a mental institution, where she was sent after her uncontrollable habit of self infliction. Returning back to her imperfect suburban home, she's determined to find the perfect job with her newly developed typing skills. As the incredible typing crackerjack she became, she applies at the small, private law office of Mr. Edward Grey. She gets dropped off everyday by her mother in a typical white station wagon to this ordinary, quaint, small brown firm. But is it really so ordinary? Hidden behind the walls and closed doors is leashed sexual desire. And hidden behind the face of Mr. Grey is a troubled past and self-conflict. But what is it? Will these two screwed-up minds be able to help each other?
This story of two troubled, isolated souls contains highly arousing yet beautiful dialogue.
"Now pull up your skirt...I said pull up your skirt...pull down your pantyhose and underwear...I told you I'm not going to -f- you..."
I guess there's no romantic implication in that given statement but doesn't love always come after pleasure and fun? Well, this film allows that to be true.
The movie does center on the idea of D&S (dominance and submission) and S&M (sadism and masochism). But we don't really see the actual role-playing and leather and vinyl clothing. However, we do hear the erotic punishment and discipline in the background with the sounds of spanking and cries. AND THAT can be enough to turn you on. Holloway and Grey enjoy this sexual pleasure, but you're in constant wonder, questioning actually how long this play will be able to go on.
"We can't do 24 hours a day, seven days a week."
"Why not?"
I highly suggest watching this movie. You don't need to watch it with your friends. It's enough entertainment to watch it by yourself. Gyllenhaal and Spader act wonderfully besides each other. They keep your eyes wide open...
Movie Review: Kinky Love, True Love; Maggie Gyllenhaal Is Splendid Indeed
Summary: 5 Stars
Based on Mary Gaitskill's stort story collected in "Bad Behavior," "Secretary" follows a very, very strange kind of love story between a young girl Lee Holloway and a middle-aged lawyer E. Edward Grey who employs her as, yes, a secretary. Lee is played by splendid Maggie Gyllenhaal (Jake's sister), and Edward by James Spader, who is simply great. You also see Jeremy Davis and Lesley Ann Warren, but their roles are not as big as the two leads. The story is simple; it revolves around the said two characters, and the unexpected romance between them. I said 'romance,' but it is a kind of romance you find in cult-film directors like David Lynch (whose influence is too obviously felt here, and the music here is by Angelo Badalamenti). Kinky, you might say, and you are right.
Lee, who has a habit of cutting her body, decides to work as a secretary when she finds a vacancy in Edward's office. But the job meeting with Edward is far from normal. I won't write it for it is probably the kind of the question many people think most indecent, and sexually harrassing.
But Lee takes the job, and surprisingly, gradually gets a better secretary under the very 'unique' guidance of Edward, who tells her the 'right' way of doing the jobs. But when their mutual feelings comes closer to love, teacher/student relation also comes close to "Bad Behavior," or very sadomasochistic love relation between them.
You may think, if you read this, the film is repulsive. Surely, to some, it may be. As I said, films like David Lynch or Pedro Almodobar can be the touchtone. If you love them, try it. If you prefer old-fashioned way of exressing love (which I do not dislike either), you may be shocked to see it.
James Spader is always at his best when he portrays this kind of a character with intelligence and repressed desire, as you saw in "Sex, Lies, and Videotape." He is as good as that, but more astonishing is the newcomer Maggie Gyllenhaal, who succeeds in displaying the natural transformation of a girl -- a girl to a woman. No one can deny her enormous talent without which the film could be very simplistic exploitation of sexual desire.
However, the fact is, it is not. And the two main characters are realized with compassionate touch of the director. I like them; I understnd them; only that possibly I cannot follow the path they went.
Movie Review: An observation of the taboo... with depth.
Summary: 5 Stars
Let's be honest. Sex is a fundamental aspect of all of our lives, yet most of us are really afraid to deal with it honestly. This movie deals with a particular aspect of sexuality in a refreshingly honest way. Whether you know anything about dominance/submission or not, this film is remarkable in that it gives us all a glimpse of what that particular sexual dynamic is all about, and it does it in a way that is quite frankly, non-sensational and non-gratuitous. And you do not need to have any affinity with dominance or submission to really 'get' and enjoy this movie, for it goes much deeper. This is a excellent character study.
The film is quite erotic, although very little actual sex is shown. It's power is in the anticipation and what is NOT said. It's about NEED. As several other reviewers have brought out here, there's alot going on here besides the allure of a taboo form of sex. The beauty of the film is in it's subtlety and the depth of the characters, which the director takes time to develop.
Both James Spader and Maggie Gyllenhaal are compatible complements in this story, which really is a story about 'complements'. It's about finding that balance in the energy between two people. There is a silent, powerful unspoken attraction between the two characters that transcends their established professional roles. The viewer can really just 'sense' this dynamic building throughout the film.
There is so much here that is communicated just with the look in the eyes. There is so much that is unspoken, yet if you pay attention, you know what is going on. I think it's great film-making. In an age when we are innundated with quick, flash images every other second, sensational sex and violence for it's own sake, and a total LACK of character development, I find it refreshing to see a movie like this that moves slowly on purpose to develop the phyche of the characters, and Secretary does that superbly.
I also find it refreshing that a film be made about this rather taboo subject with an non-judgmental, open honesty. After all, in the end, its a LOVE story. A story of fufilled and satified needs on both ends of the equation. And really, isn't that what any successful relationship is really about? The look in Lee's face in the last frame of the movie says it all.