Starring Maggie Gyllenhaal, James Spader, Jeremy Davies, Lesley Ann Warren, Steven McHattie, Amy Locane, Patrick Bauchau, Jessica Tuck, Oz Perkins. Written and Directed by Steven Shainberg. From a short story by Mary Gaitskill. Lee Holloway (Gyllenhaal) has just got out of the hospital, committed for trying to harm herself with a carving knife. She wasn't trying to kill herself - she just cut too deep into her arm. Lee has been cutting and intentionally hurting herself since the 7th grade. She has returned home just in time to see her sister (Locane) get married, her father (McHattie) pretend he's still not drinking (heavily), and her mother (Warren) trying to lock up all the sharp objects in the house. Lee goes to typing school and excels there. She scans the want ads and applies for a secretarial job with E. Edward Grey (Spader). Soon after working with Edward for a while, he starts circling all her typing errors, demanding that she fix them. Then he starts punishing her by rythmic spanking. And she likes it. She continues to make errors, sometimes on purpose to keep the "discipline" coming. But for some reason, Edward stops, and she can't seem to do anything to get him to restart. Meanwhile, her decent and marriage-hunting boyfriend (Davies) never takes the hint to give her what she really wants. Unhappy at his weakness and what he does to Lee, Edward fires her to get her away from him. But Lee doesn't take this lying down. Or in any other position. Despite the S&M nature of the movie, Secretary is really just a romantic love story complete with a (disappointing) conventional ending. I'm not sure this story should be a romantic love story, but it is. After their first episode, it is Lee who is the instigator, continually trying to devise ways to get her boss to "discipline" her. She is disappointed and frustrated when he stops doing it, when he's having second thoughts and thinks of himself as disgusting. Despite some spanking and an act of humiliation, the tone of each of these is controlled and safe - we aren't always sure what Edward will do, but we really don't fear for her, and she is always an eager and willing partner. Other movies have contained S&M themes and activity, but it is consistently presented as a walk on the wild side for the particular character, after which he or she comes back to his or her senses and assumes a normal family life. In Secretary, the S&M is presented as a healing experience, an awakening for Lee where she feels she's a "part of the earth for the first time". It's hard to imagine, but I'll take her word for it. It's not presented as primarily a sexual activity, but as an emotional release for her. And the ending - without giving too much away, the end result of the S&M is cast with a far too rosy glow. Knowing what she knows, how could she trust Edward at the office with a new, young submissive secretary? The movie starts off examining the emotional and psychological causes and effects on Lee, and ends inferring the masochism as a romantic lifestyle choice. The movie hinges on Maggie Gyllenhaal's performance and she is excellent throughout, providing believable character development from frumpy, underconfident and mousy girl to a more independent, confident young women. She does much of acting with her face, and conveys at first the emotionally abused person she is and later the inner satisfaction she feels when she is getting what she wants for the first time. Spader, like in Crash and Sex, Lies and Videotape before, is quite good at playing the cold, emotionally repressed kinko. The rest of the cast plays mostly minor roles, with Jessica Tuck as Edwards domineering ex seeking more of his money standing out. Secretary provides two fine performances, interesting characters and a unique story with a far too neat and audience friendly ending. The masochism is pretty tame but this movie will not be to everyone's tastes. If you would like to respond, please click the E-Mail Press Here To Go To The Review List Page