Secretary

Rating:
Summary: I'd Like That Coffee with a Spanking, Please
Review: "Secretary" is a deliciously off-beat dramedy about an emotionally disturbed young girl (Maggie Gyllenhaal) who gets a job as a you know what for an attorney with his own set of personal problems (James Spader). Soon, she's doing more than typing for him, and he's helping her come out of her reclusive shell.

This film on paper sounds almost exactly like "The Piano." A young woman is given the choice between a conventional relationship and one that superficially might seem perverse, and opts for the perverse one. In both films, what no-one in the heroine's sphere understands is that the man she's involved with is appealing because he's the only one who seems to understand what she needs.

"Secretary" is not as sombre as "The Piano," however, though it's not as rowdy as the premise might lead you to believe. It's actually a quite substantive film and only occasionally did I think it faltered somewhat in telling its story (particularly toward the end, when Lee embarks upon her hunger strike). Ironically, in offering herself up for submissive humiliation from her boss, Lee finds the strength she needs to face her own demons and forges a confidence she's never before had.

Gyllenhall is spectacular, and gives one of those performances that should put her on the map as a serious actress, if anyone is paying attention. Spader is pretty good too, but he's upstaged by Gyllenhaal, who owns this movie.

Grade: A-

Rating:
Summary: Someone for everyone
Review: Different, dark, disturbing and great. Put pearls on that girl and she lights up the screen. Like nothing you've seen before.

Rating:
Summary: Peculiar black comedy with a fresh approach...
Review: This is a peculiar black comedy about a subject matter that has been approached in cinema before, but not in such an open and healthy manner. Sadism and masochism are subjects usually left for films about serial killers, sociopaths or the underworld of freaks. In cinema, at least, this topic, and the issues it raises about human sexuality, human suffering and the notion of power and dominance, has been for the most part, taboo, and it is a step in the right direction for the industry to present it in such a fresh, open and humorous way.

Lee (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is a young woman with a few issues about herself and her family. The film opens with her leaving an institution, and her therapist wishing her well in the outside world. We come to see that Lee uses pain as a coping mechanism - burning and cutting herself when life becomes too difficult. She learns some office skills at the community college and lands a job at a one-man law firm. Edward Grey (James Spader) is not what one would say is your 'normal' employer. When we first meet him in the interview scene, one gets the immediate impression that this man has a few issues of his own. As the story begins to unfold, however, one can see that these two unique individuals just might have something in common. This becomes all too apparent in the scene where he 'punishes' her for making too many typos in her letters. Personally, I didn't know whether to be shocked or laugh during this scene, and ended up quite stunned and laughing at the same time. It would have been extremely difficult to pull off this particular scene without losing its underlying power, as it demands both comedy and depth, but Spader and Gyllenhaal made it real, funny and powerful in every sense.

~ Secretary~ is to a large extent a coming of age film. Here is a young, obviously intelligent and sensitive woman, discovering aspects about herself that are not necessarily 'normal' to our middle-of-the-road sensibilities. She meets someone who makes her aware about herself, and at the same time, she makes him aware that love can exist and be expressed without feeling guilt. This is a love story though a kind of love story one does not hear about very often. `Secretary~ is a funny, odd and entertaining film.

Rating:
Summary: A good film with great character acting
Review: The storyline is interesting to say the least. Young girl with obvious self-esteem problems and a penchant for enjoying pain meets older man who suffers from OCD and other 'issues'. Spader is famous for acting in this fringe, artsy movies. He does not disappoint in this film. We are drawn into his character from the beginning. As the film progresses, we begin to better understand the neurosis and what it is he seeks. The newcomer, Maggie G., has a breakthrough performance. The movie opens on a sad, pathetic looking girl and ends with a strong, assertive woman who is beautiful and knows what she wants.

As with any relationship of this type, from the outside we see the dominant as being in charge. But looking closer and some of Maggie's characters actions at the end of the film, we see the submissive is actually pulling the strings - getting what she wants and needs out of the relationship.

All in all, a fine film. We scripted, directed and acted.

Rating:
Summary: wildy erotic and darkly humorous
Review: this movie is a really good movie and i still can't get some of the stuff out of my mind. this is better than somee of the pornos i've scene because it has a plot and a point. it is also humorous. worth watching.

Rating:
Summary: performance
Review: Maggie Gyllenhaal is the only thing that really makes this film compelling. The premise is interesting, but I lost interest before the end, and the end was highly disappointing. Given the perversions and unusual proclivities of both Gyllenhaal's "Lee" and her boss, played by an old hand at this sort of bizarre role, James Spader, the ending was somehow... a little too normal. There is entertainment value in this film, and the viewer can see a change in the dynamics of the relationship between Lee and boss in the film. (At least this is how I interpreted it). Lee's self-esteem was not the highest nor her mental state the best when she started working in the law office in which Spader is a lawyer. However, she appears to grow more confident and validated by Spader's control over her, while he grows more and more doubtful and begins questioning the relationship.

Rating:
Summary: One Of (If Not The) Greatest Movies Ever.
Review: I will not get to much into the plot or a bio on the movie Secretary. I'm guessing you all know pretty much all about that by now. But I will tell you what I got from this movie. Secretary was by far one of the best movies I have watched in a very long time if not ever. I've found myself to be a huge fan of Maggie Gyllenhaal & James Spader... Although I have been a huge fan of James Spader from movies like Stargate, The Stickup, Tuff Tuff, Crash, and many others... I left this movie with a lot of things. But the biggest one was a new huge curiosity of the BDSM lifestyle. I've never been curious of alternate lifestyles or relationships until seeing this movie, or maybe I have and this movie has just brought it to light. For whatever the reason I know I'm now very much so attracted to the lifestyle. This movie has actually given me a true representation of this lifestyle, almost a look on the inside in ways.. I have now looking back on the movie and knowing what I know now about the lifestyle found a lot of the movie to be true look at this hidden or somewhat unknown culture and lifestyle. I for one thank Steven Shainberg for his directing in this great movie and give it 2 thumbs up. A must in any great dvd collection.

Rating:
Summary: TOTAL Unabashed Love, The Dangers & Rewards That Lie Therein
Review: This movie just FLOORED me! I am a big James Spader fan and Maggie Gyllenhaal (Mona Lisa Smile) gives a
wonderful first starring performance... A young girl that has many life problems, wants someone to love her despite the fact and will stop AT NOTHING, even shaming & degradation doled out by her sad sack of a boss to get him to PAY ATTENTION to HER... If you are looking for a real eye-opening, erotic, fetish FILLED movie, (without the usual gratuitous skin shots) then this is the movie for you. Highly recommended as the whole ensemble turned in fine, fine performances. SMACK!

Rating:
Summary: Return of the Kink
Review: The entire cast is just superb. This is truly a twisted romance and it isn't for the meek. As I watched "Secretary" I was thinking how it would make a great third chapter of an offbeat "romance" trilogy. The other parts would be "Center of the World" and "9 1/2 Weeks". Watch it with someone you love....and don't forget the red Sharpies...............

Rating:
Summary: Red Felt-tipped Intrigue
Review: Secretary is indeed an oddity. A watchable engaging one, but nevertheless an oddity.

I suppose Steven Shainberg has taken a difficult subject and humanized it quite nicely. Lee Holloway, played deftly by Maggie Gyllenhaal, has a self-deprecating personality that she takes out upon herself in careful sharp and cutting means. It doesn't seem too healthy and may be disturbing by the general Joe and Jill Q. Public to watch. E. Edward Grey, also well-played, by James Spader, is a neat-freak lawyer that seems equally isolated and disturbed. Just about all the characters in this flick (and they aren't many), have issues of the emotional kind.

Though it might not be a film for everyone, in the end we know the twisted people and oddly enough find them human wanting in the needs that all human want, connection, meaning, compassion. It is odd that it comes to this.

Don't miss the belly-aching laugh of Gyllenhaal's character attempting to delve into the world of S&M by throwing tomatoes at a furtive and bound soul (bound to a oven no less). It is a hoot.

If your squeamish or your taste are on the slightly prude side, steer clear of Secretary. If not, and you possess an open-mind, by all means give Secretary a watch. You will find it less about S&M and more about a character study of the human condition.

-MMW