Secretary (2002)

Good movie but grossly overrated

Good concept, poorly executed.

an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Excellent movie one of my favorite of all the time. very sensual and seductive, high rewatch value, and very entertaining. a more titillating view into a non-traditional office romance.

This is a terrible film. One does not have to be a conservative to dislike this film but just be sane and have common sense. Secretary fails to include what most average films have, a plot. There seems to be no coherent or realistic plot. A number of reviewers have raved about it being a dark love story. Simply not true and utter nonsense. One moment these two disturbed people are not close and the next we have to believe they are in love over some sick desires for domination they share. A lot of unrealistic love stories have been made but this takes the cake. This film also has parallels to fifty shades of grey which was equally disturbing. People who actually like this film probably need some mental help. Perhaps they like watching or experiencing torture, maybe their favorite film is Schindlers list for the wrong twisted reasons. This film is not worth a watch.

Released in 2002 to a low rumble of critical attention, and touted as a film that brought BDSM to the masses, I had dismissed Secretary for quite some time as some kind of mass-appeal erotica - a 50 Shades- esque film that people drag their spouses to for some mild titillation before bedtime.Happily, I was wrong. Oh, how I was wrong.What Secretary appears to be, and what it actually is, are two very different beasts, and I dare say that it was misrepresented in its marketing in an attempt to catch a wider mainstream audience - it is far from a mainstream movie, and it certainly isn't bargain-basement titillation. What is ostensibly described as 'a film exploring the relationship between a dominant man and his submissive secretary' (thank you, Wikipedia) is actually an incredibly quirky, often unsettling, and always unpredictable look at the lives of two deeply troubled individuals, and the story of how they manage to find, amidst the chaos of their individual minds, a welcoming embrace in the chaos of one another.Maggie Gyllenhaal, in the role that brought her mainstream attention, is Lee Holloway, a woman with a history of self-harm, just released from psychiatric care following a nervous breakdown. Upon her re- entry to the real world, Lee quickly falls back into her old habits after failing to deal with the stresses of her fractured family and her inadequacy relative to her sister, and in an effort to broaden her horizons, takes typing lessons and applies for a job as a secretary for James Spader's enigmatically- named lawyer, E. Edward Grey (thankfully no relation to the Grey of '50 Shades'). Lee is a tender creature, constantly battered by the harshness of her environment, and seemingly not built to weather the ups and downs of her daily life – a fragility that Gyllenhaal, to use a dreadfully clichéd but apt term, embodies. I chose my words carefully when I said that she is Lee Holloway, as from her first moment on screen it becomes truly difficult to make the distinction between the performer and the performance, and Gyllenhaal has since admitted that she took aspects of the character home with her without intending to. She strikes a deft balance between disturbing and endearing, mixing a gentle sweetness and naiveté in a coy smile and a shy glance with a darkness that is largely hidden from the audience, internalised, and manifesting in either her self-harm, or channeled into a carnal confidence in her growing experimentation with BDSM.But in BDSM, as in sensual Latin dance, it takes two to tango, and Gyllenhaal is matched and countered by a near-inconceivable level of oddity from James Spader, who performs his own balancing act in one of the best performances of his career as Lee's deeply eccentric boss – a lawyer existing solely for his work and for his delicately tended orchids. Spader's Grey is almost completely opaque in his motivations, shunning any kind of deeper emotional connection with others, and from the outset he appears to be, for lack of a better term, a complete bastard. But, wooed by Lee's almost indefatigable desire to follow commands, he one day chooses to punish her for repeated spelling errors by spanking her across his desk, a directive that she hesitantly but willingly follows. From here their relationship unfolds as Lee begins to crave this outlet for her pain and the connection she feels with Grey, while Grey himself struggles with disgust at his sexual habits, and his fear of emotional connections.The world of Secretary almost feels like a Terry Gilliam fever dream. It seems to exist in no single decade, simultaneously modern and retro in its technology and aesthetic, and Steven Shainberg's direction pushes his actors to shed all inhibition in pursuit of his bizarre pseudo-reality, and to great effect. It's a peculiar world filled with recognisable features and colourful, broken characters, but remains distinct from any single real point in time, and this style and slightly unhinged perspective helps one feel as if it's not the characters of the film that are out of place, but you yourself. The film reveals honestly from the get-go that the content found within might not be something that you're familiar with, and that it's up to you to fit in, not the other way round. One repercussion of this is the occasional feeling that the film progresses in an almost stream-of-consciousness manner, and it can be hard to decipher the motivations behind some of the more bizarre choices made by the characters, but, for all that happens, and the peculiar nature of many of the scenes, it's surprisingly easy to follow the general flow of the narrative.In saying that, Secretary isn't always an easily digestible film and can be quite dark in its themes at times, but it's an unconventional exploration of an unconventional topic, and in pulling BDSM out of the dungeon and into the office, and throwing in a good deal of quirky humour and real pathos, it throws a light on the subject and attempts to explain it, at least in this context, as a way for two alternative people with alternative tastes to find their own special place in the world at each other's side. Secretary speaks of human relationships - of fear, and trepidation, and uncertainty, and mistrust and of other such baggage that we all accumulate in life - and challenges us to reflect on the fact that regardless of the thoughts that threaten to destabilise us, be they fleeting or chronic, ingrained or accumulated, 'normality' is but a construct, and if you can find someone out there who fits you like a glove, then even the most unconventional person can hope to build normality for themselves.

The first sight of James Spader is exhilarating. He captures the almost hysterical hilarity of his character with the most spaced out expression I have ever seen. He and Gyllenhaal are spectacular. This is not an S&M or bondage film, it is a captivating story of two very neurotic people who act out in very unique ways. Maggie's character tries to experiment with Dom-Sub types after being rejected but it is not the same. She is just madly in love with a man who is wound up too tightly for this world. They both have their stories and they both have their remedies. You will not see either in any other film. None of the remedies are politically correct and the highly astute will claim they should both be on heavy meds because that is the only remedy most highly astute people know and accept. But these two go their own way and it is one fun, joyous trip that is never predictable, always jaw dropping and simply perfect.