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A Lions Gate release. Written by Erin Cressida Wilson and Steven Shainberg; Directed by Steven Shainberg; starring Maggie Gyllenhaal and James Spader. Released to DVD on April 1, 2003.  Hollywood likes to focus its lens on slightly deviant sexual practices, occasionally going so far as to glamorize these erotic events; most of post-midnight programming on cable is shot based on this premise. Heaving breasts and jiggle shots are what sell. So, when I heard about co-writer/director Steven Shainberg’s latest film, Secretary, a film that featured a rather prominent sadomasochistic relationship between a lawyer and his secretary, I was shocked to learn that the material was dealt with in a light-hearted, romantic fashion, minus any Baywatch-esque bouncing. Maggie Gyllenhaal stars in Secretary as Lee Holloway. Lee is an introverted young twenty-something woman who has, in the past, thanks to her very rocky family life, had a serious problem with cutting herself. When the pain of dealing with her parents becomes too much, Lee pulls out a small knife and cuts herself on her inner thigh; the pain from the cutting, essentially, taking away from the pain of her home. Determined to get a job and get her act together, Lee applies for a secretarial position with E. Edward Grey, Esquire (James Spader). Things are going well for Lee as Grey’s secretary but take a turn for the better when Grey decides to spank her for the typing mistakes that she makes. And thus begins the most unusual romance of the millennium. Using a comedic style vaguely reminiscent of Pedro Almodovar’s in Tie Me Up Tie Me Down, Shainberg softens the impact that Grey and Lee’s strangely erotic S+M relationship has on the viewer, which intriguingly allows the film to follow the same type of structure as that of a standard romantic comedy, ala Sleepless in Seattle or Two Weeks Notice. Spader delivers a very subdued and capable performance as Grey, but it is Gyllenhaal who steals the film. Simultaneously mischievous and shy, coquettish and prim and repressed yet adventurous, Gyllenhaal’s range within the arc of her character is what makes this film succeed to the degree it does. Unusual to say the least, Secretary is a fluffy, feel good romantic comedy about S+M. All parties involved with this film including Shainberg, Gyllenhaal, Spader and scripter Erin Cressida Wilson deserve a large amount of credit for the work of artistry they have crafted here.
chris neumer yes, it's true: When you need an actor for a character with a sexual kink, James Spader is your man. He was involved with video taping women in sex lies and videotape, recreating famous car crashes as a fetish in Crash, a marital therapist having an affair with one of his patients in Speaking About Sex and is now a lawyer with a S+M fetish here in Secretary. |
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