Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.
Throughout the years of independent films, one of the most beloved subjects filmmakers like to tackle on is sex. Ranging from such movies as the voyeuristic sex, lies, and videotape to the disturbing John Waters’ Pink Flamingo. Though embraced by critics and hardcore film fans, Hollywood has always been disturbed by the subject, and wondered if it would appeal to a mass audience. It has a few times with 9 ½ Weeks and most recently Unfaithful but always gets hit with failures like Showgirls and Original Sin. Sex is a mixed bag when it comes to the film world yet; independent filmmakers always enjoy pushing the boundaries on the subject. In 2002, filmmaker Steven Shainberg and screenwriter Erin Cressida Wilson made a movie based on a short story by Mary Gaitskill about a young, lanky, shy woman who finds pleasure from the beatings of her isolated, insecure boss called Secretary.
Secretary is a very kinky story filled with S&M gadgets and antics while explores the insecurity and suffering of its two major characters. First is the main character Lee Holloway (Maggie Gyllenhaal, sister of Donnie Darko star Jake), a young, shy, lanky woman who finds pleasure in cutting herself, to relieve the tension of her family life, while trying to find some sort of happiness in her personal life. The other major character is Lee’s boss, E. Edward Grey (James Spader) who also insecure and isolated in some ways as he tries to relieve the frustration of his life through inflicting pain on others. Secretary is a very cerebral film that isn’t for everyone, even those who find S&M antics very uncomforting, but it’s a movie that is beautifully shot and masterfully written while channeling through the human emotions of its two central characters.
The movie begins with Lee Holloway waiting to be picked up from a mental institution on the day of her sister’s wedding. She gets picked up from her overprotective mother (Lesley Ann Warren) as Lee finds herself isolated in her sister’s wedding reception. She meets up with her old friend Peter (Jeremy Davies) and sees her dad (Stephen McHattie) who has relapsed into alcoholism. Dismayed over her dad’s relapse, she goes to her room and grabs her kit of tools (including razors, small knives, and other sharp things) where she cuts herself to relieve the sadness in her home life. Things get worse at home after her dad quits his job and brings more tension at home as Lee decided to get a new life. After taking some typing classes in a nearby community college where she excels highly in typing. She looks through the want ads and finds a listing for a secretary needed.
She goes into the workplace of E. Edward Grey whose place is a mess as a secretary leaves with her work stuff and final paycheck. Lee meets Grey, who is filled with a sense of morose for himself, as she is interviewed for the job while he asks her to do a few duties. Grey hires her as she begins working for him, typing documents, answering the phone, and bringing him coffee and files. Things start out fine until one day, his ex-girlfriend Tricia (Jessica Tuck) arrives to the building where she asks for Grey, who is hiding in his closet, and at the same time Lee gets a call from her dad. Overwhelmed by the threat from Tricia and her dad’s call, Lee goes into the motive of cutting herself again, as Grey catches her.
Grey sees her in a Laundromat where she is talking to Peter, who becomes her new boyfriend and throws away underwear as a tribute to babies, as he decides to put his frustrations on her. He incessantly puts red marks on typos, demands less sugar on his coffee, and all of these things just to make her do things right. One day, he calls her to his library where she tells him about her self-mutilation and a bit of the problem she has in her life. Grey tells Lee to stop cutting herself and take off work early to walk home as she finds some happiness in him, ordering her around. Despite that happiness, she still makes mistakes that upsets Grey as he decides to do a little experiment by making her bend over on his desks, read a letter, and he slaps her *ss, repeatedly.
Lee finds strange pleasure in that as she throws away her cutting tools and she gets punished in strange ways including bringing a file while crawling on all fours and wearing all sorts of S&M gadgets while Leonard Cohen’s I’m Your Man is playing in the background. Lee thrives on the punishment as it brings pleasure for her and Grey but the fun stopped while it lasted. Lee couldn’t find that same pleasure in her relationship with Peter as her father’s alcoholism finally takes its toll. She comes to Grey’s house for help but couldn’t bring herself to tell him, as he couldn’t bring himself to ask her what’s wrong. Suddenly, Grey begins to treat Lee like a regular secretary as she tries to get his attention with typos and all sorts of things.
Lee even goes to extremes by making him look at burlesque pictures of herself and sending a FedEx letter of a dead worm just to make him express his feelings. Yet, he’s having trouble trying to express himself, since he suffers from the heartbreak of his relationship with Tricia and isolation. Finally, he couldn’t continue his work relationship with Lee as she tries more and more to express himself just so they can both find happiness in a world, they both felt don’t fit in.
Secretary definitely is filled with amazing storylines and tension in Wilson’s screenplay as she brings some innocence and suffering into the characters of the movie. Steven Shainberg’s direction is visually beautiful, especially in the detail of the bleak, soulless office of E. Edward Grey where the only sense of life is in his water garden. Even as the camera engages the drama in capturing the lost souls of its main characters. Steven Fierberg's cinematography in its interior setting has a dark yet colorful feel while a lot of the exteriors are mostly beautiful in the daytime with a blueish look for rainy day scenes.
Another noted factor that was critical to the film is the seductive, electro-jazz score of Angelo Badalamenti (famous for his work with David Lynch) that provides a sense of kookiness in the real world and a cold, sterile tone in the office of Mr. Grey. The supporting performances of veterans Lesley Ann Warren and Stephen McHattie are brilliant as Lee’s suffering, overprotective parents, especially Warren who plays her character with masterful performance as she keeps waiting for Lee as she is working. Jeremy Davies even brings in an excellent, comedic performance as Lee’s loser boyfriend who tries to show Lee he loves her yet, couldn’t satisfy her emotional and mental needs, especially in a scene where she wants him to grab her *ss.
The main performances of James Spader and Maggie Gyllenhaal are easily the best throughout the whole movie. The veteran Spader, who was seen in two sex-related films like Steven Sodehberg’s voyeuristic sex, lies, & videotape and David Cronenberg’s Crash, gives a masterful performance as the creepy, insecure E. Edward Grey, who at times can be unlikable yet sympathetic as he is someone who is afraid to love and not wanting heartbreak. Maggie Gyllenhaal delivers the film’s most breakthrough performance as the innocent, shy, lanky Lee as she reveals all in her performance as she thrives on abuse while looking sexy and beautiful in her role. Gyllenhaal is definitely one actress who has promise in her future, especially in small, scene-stealing scenes in Cecil B. Demented and Donnie Darko, as her stars begin to rise and she deserves all the praise she got for her role.
***Added paragraphs on 6/14/03***
In the DVD version of Secretary, the film contains usual DVD tidbits like English/Spanish subtitles, 5.1 stereo surround sound, scene chapters, and trailers including one for another Steven Shainberg movie Hit Me starring Elias Koteas. The only real adage that makes the Secretary DVD special is the special features. In it contains a small photo gallery that includes a few promo shots and outtakes as well as a seven-minute Behind the Scenes special with interviews from director Shainberg and actors James Spader and Maggie Gyllenhaal as they comment on the film’s provocative tone and little details in Mr. Grey’s office and Spader’s demand for specifics.
One final special feature is the audio commentary from Shainberg and screenwriter Erin Cressida Wilson as they watch the film and explain a few details in the film including the pool scenes with Gyllenhaal where Shainberg comments that in the making of that scene, the pool was so cold that after a take, Gyllenhaal had to come out wearing a towel because she was so freezing in that pool. Shainberg and Wilson also mentioned a few scenes that included shots of both Spader and Gyllenhaal’s characters in front of the camera as Shainberg mentions filmmaker Mike Figgis of Leaving Las Vegas as a direct influence in a few of shots that he filmed. Shainberg also talks about a few scenes that were cut for the length of the movie and small budget and admittedly felt that one of the characters; a paralegal played by Lily Knight could’ve had more scenes in the film since she often appears in Mr. Grey’s office. Wilson comments on the screenplay where most of the film was scripted except for some of the scenes Jeremy Davies does where he improvises and does a good job on it since he adds some comic relief to the film.
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While Secretary isn’t a film for those who can’t understand fetishes, it is still one amazing film channeling the suffering of human emotions. The S&M references, full-frontal nudity, and all sexual related things is something children can’t see and even horny teenagers won’t understand this movie since the sex isn’t silly. The humor of the film might not be understood by some since it borderlines between ranges of comedy and drama which is some cases, makes Secretary difficult to define in a genre. Secretary is really a movie for adults who like smart sex films. For anyone who loves a love story with a sense of humor, coffee, and some kinkiness, Secretary is the film for you.
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