Secretary (DVD)

...(Sex, Lies, and a Videotape). Secretary is based on a short story by Mary Gaitskill called Bad Behaviour. -



Set in a town in America, Lee lives a bit of a tortured life. Her mother is overprotective and her father is a hopeless alcoholic. She is witness to her parents constant arguing, and the father beating her mother up. Self harming since the seventh grade Lee finds life very difficult. She is shy, nervous, immature, ...
...lights, and he changes his secretary regularly. Dimming the lights as he does so. This should be a warning sign to Lee, but she is very grateful to have been offered the job, and she does all she can to please him, and he does expect rather a lot.



There is a turning point early on in the film when Mr Gray asks Lee to retrieve some important papers he has thrown away in the trash, knee deep in a rubbish skip, she is ... more

SECRETARY

Released in 2002 'Secretary' is a film that centres around a Sado/Masochistic love affair. It falls into the genre Black Comedy. Directed by Steven Soderburgh - (The Ocean films) - Starring Maggie Gyllenhaal - (Donnie Darko) - and James Spader - (Sex, Lies, and a Videotape). Secretary is based on a short story by Mary Gaitskill called Bad Behaviour. -

Set in a town in America, Lee lives a bit of a tortured life. Her mother is overprotective and her father is a hopeless alcoholic. She is witness to her parents constant arguing, and the father beating her mother up. Self harming since the seventh grade Lee finds life very difficult. She is shy, nervous, immature, and has just recovered from a nervous breakdown, and a near fatal cutting session. Newly released, after a spell in the local psychiatric institution, she is still in therapy, still cutting herself, and in a total emotional turmoil. She is attending secretarial college to take her mind off things, and to give herself something to concentrate on. Her mother discovered her self harm a few years back, and hid every sharp implement in the house, and from then on became totally over protective, and Lee doesn't have enough breathing space to recover, and grow.

One night it all gets too much for Lee and she takes her bag of cutting implements and throws them in the trash, which proves too much, and she has to retrieve them. As she is doing so she finds a newspaper with an advert in for 'Secretary wanted'. In her fragile state, she decides to apply for the job, and much to her families astonishment, she is taken on. Her interview was a strange affair, with the respective employer, being a very odd person. He too was shy, and eccentric, and he lived and worked in a weird house full of eclectic ethnic objects and furnishings. Her employer is a para legal lawyer, E. Edward Gray (James Spader), and her job will involve typing and filing for him.

On her first day she begins to realise that this is no ordinary employer, and as time progresses, the demands placed upon her, and the strange occurrences during working hours in the office, both delight and disturb her. The atmosphere between these two is highly sexually charged, and erotic. An ideal job I'd say ;) But the set-up shows signs of falling apart, when their strange Sado/Masochistic working relationship takes a turn for the worst.-

I liked this film. I thought it was both, fun, and intriguing. Some of the scenes may shock, but as this is done in pure black comedy style, the film gets way with it on all levels. The strange dysfunctional relationship between these two is believable, as it is shown as a form of love story, rather than just sexual perversity. The film starts at some point well into the story, and resorts to flashback almost immediately. The opening sequence is a nice bit of 'tongue in cheek' with Lee parading around the office in strange S&M attire, with surreal clips of her doing office duties whilst under a 'definite handicap', and all this set to the rhythm and drone of Leonard Cohen music. This opening scene sets the tone for the film. Maggie Gyllenhaal is brilliant in the role of Lee, and plays her part with the fragile, disturbed quality needed for the character of the shy and submissive Lee. She seems as if she is going to implode at any minute. She is a mass of contradictions, and she is totally out on a limb.

There is so much built up tension within this character, bubbling away under the surface, and Maggie portrays this very well. Her cutting herself is her only escape from going mad, the release it gives her is evident to see, and you feel huge empathy as she cuts deep into her skin. She has a boyfriend from college as part o the sub plot, but he is no match for her, and doesn't have any idea of the depths of the woman, and you feel he is only there as a comparison. Her father is a hopeless alcoholic who drinks to blot out the responsibilities of life, and who beats her mother to take away the feelings of his own inadequacies. Lees main problems come from the unhappy home life she has had, and work is a real escape from all of this.

Mr Gray, her employer has very few social skills. In fact it is a wonder he has any business at all, as he doesn't like to see, or speak to anyone. Being painfully shy and introverted, he conducts his life and work within the four walls, rarely leaving his home. He has a permanent 'secretary wanted' sign outside his office lit up with lights, and he changes his secretary regularly. Dimming the lights as he does so. This should be a warning sign to Lee, but she is very grateful to have been offered the job, and she does all she can to please him, and he does expect rather a lot.

There is a turning point early on in the film when Mr Gray asks Lee to retrieve some important papers he has thrown away in the trash, knee deep in a rubbish skip, she is quite happy, and does not question him at such an extreme request. James Spader is very convincing as the sexually perverse employer. The subdued but loaded atmosphere between the two of them is acted out well, and he plays the part of the sexually repressed and masochistic Mr Gray brilliantly. I can't help but draw comparisons between 'Sex, Lies, and a Videotape' when viewing his character, it really is very similar. James Spader was obviously the first choice for the part, as he plays these complicated, sexually disturbed characters very well. For the most part the film is a two hander, with other smaller cast performances at the start of the film mainly.

Secretary is classed as a comedy, though I wouldn't exactly call it that. It has it's moments, but all in all in comes across more of a drama/black comedy, or drama/romance. It's a bit unique really, and you would have to view it to see what I mean. The film handles the rather unusual aspects of sado/masochism well, and portrays this erotic sexual preference with a humour. Spanking taken seriously just doesn't work too well on film, and rather than being titillating, it's more of a snigger inducing moment. I loved this film. I liked the love story within it. Acted brilliantly, with good use of music and colour, this is a film I can watch over and over. -

Running time 104 mins
BBFC Rating 18 as it contains strong sexuality.

...less