David O'ConnellSecretary : A Stranger Version of Love
May 12th 2008 05:18
Secretary, released in 2002, is a highly original and, at times, daring look at a very different type of romance which sets a high standard of weirdness and perversity before finally falling away in the final act.
Maggie Gyllenhaal, always interesting to watch on screen, is Lee Holloway, who has recently been released from a mental facility. Her most notable pastime, it seems, has been self-mutilation with a series of sharp instruments which she keeps hidden in a little 'kit' bag in her room, making concentrated slashes along her inner thighs to block out the stresses around her.
Our first glimpse of her life is as she's trying to re-adjust once more but it's clear for awhile that some of the sinister old temptations are hovering on the fringes of her psyche, threatening to intrude once again.
She's looking for a job and soon finds one working as a secretary - and lone employee - for the very odd E. Edward Grey, played perfectly by James Spader, who seems like an alternate-world version of his Boston Legal character.......... as imagined by David Lynch!
Beyond the legal side of the business, which is hardly dwelt upon and mostly incidental, the two have a perverse fascination with one another, which isn't mentioned in so many words for a while as they share a relatively normal employer-employee relationship at first. There is little that's conventional about how it develops over the days and weeks however as they make progress from psychological games - Grey's relationship with his red marker, as he obsessively draws attention to Lee's typing errors, is very funny after a while. This 'naturally' leads to Lee being spanked finally as punishment and the way she accepts it, we assume she's been anticipating it with relish all along!
The 'perversions' are evenly portrayed by director Steven Shainberg, and not really perversions at all of course, simply darker facets of the characters' sexuality as they give voice to their more inhibited sides and find a genuine connection with one another at the same time. But it takes some time, before Grey - the more reluctant of the pair - will admit to anything to beyond purely physical stimulation.
There are other dark glimpses into Grey's past life too such as hints of a whole string of predecessors before Lee who've fallen by the wayside or he's lost interest in.
For the majority of its length, Secretary thrives on its eccentricities and it's skewed perspective of love with two reluctant but curious participants. There's a boyfriend of sorts in Lee's life too, played by the always strange Jeremy Davies, but Lee tends to drift along through their moments together, unable to make any emotional connection with him or his sad profession of love for her. He's like a sad prop holding up one end of her life - the time away from the office and her growing obsession with Grey.
The final part of the film was the only real letdown for me - I was really hoping for the story to lead off into another dark corner and provide another twist but it's almost as if Shainberg suspects his audience may have had an overload of weirdness and 'cops' out to some extent with a much more conventional resolution than I was expecting.
Nevertheless, Secretary is a unique little film, with two great acting performances by Gyllenhaal and Spader, and well worth seeing.
Maggie Gyllenhaal, always interesting to watch on screen, is Lee Holloway, who has recently been released from a mental facility. Her most notable pastime, it seems, has been self-mutilation with a series of sharp instruments which she keeps hidden in a little 'kit' bag in her room, making concentrated slashes along her inner thighs to block out the stresses around her.
She's looking for a job and soon finds one working as a secretary - and lone employee - for the very odd E. Edward Grey, played perfectly by James Spader, who seems like an alternate-world version of his Boston Legal character.......... as imagined by David Lynch!
Beyond the legal side of the business, which is hardly dwelt upon and mostly incidental, the two have a perverse fascination with one another, which isn't mentioned in so many words for a while as they share a relatively normal employer-employee relationship at first. There is little that's conventional about how it develops over the days and weeks however as they make progress from psychological games - Grey's relationship with his red marker, as he obsessively draws attention to Lee's typing errors, is very funny after a while. This 'naturally' leads to Lee being spanked finally as punishment and the way she accepts it, we assume she's been anticipating it with relish all along!
Legal duties............
The 'perversions' are evenly portrayed by director Steven Shainberg, and not really perversions at all of course, simply darker facets of the characters' sexuality as they give voice to their more inhibited sides and find a genuine connection with one another at the same time. But it takes some time, before Grey - the more reluctant of the pair - will admit to anything to beyond purely physical stimulation.
There are other dark glimpses into Grey's past life too such as hints of a whole string of predecessors before Lee who've fallen by the wayside or he's lost interest in.
For the majority of its length, Secretary thrives on its eccentricities and it's skewed perspective of love with two reluctant but curious participants. There's a boyfriend of sorts in Lee's life too, played by the always strange Jeremy Davies, but Lee tends to drift along through their moments together, unable to make any emotional connection with him or his sad profession of love for her. He's like a sad prop holding up one end of her life - the time away from the office and her growing obsession with Grey.
The final part of the film was the only real letdown for me - I was really hoping for the story to lead off into another dark corner and provide another twist but it's almost as if Shainberg suspects his audience may have had an overload of weirdness and 'cops' out to some extent with a much more conventional resolution than I was expecting.
Nevertheless, Secretary is a unique little film, with two great acting performances by Gyllenhaal and Spader, and well worth seeing.
Gyllenhaal and Spader are perfect together
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Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
This is one of my favourite cinema romances. I actually adore the ending though, even in pleasant suburbia, behind closed doors taboo love is lurking.