Secretary (2002)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Steven Shainberg

Writers:

Erin Cressida Wilson (screenplay)
Mary Gaitskill (short story)

Release Date:

14 November 2002 (Israel)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Assume the position.

Plot:

A young woman, recently released from a mental hospital, gets a job as a secretary to a demanding lawyer, where their employer-employee relationship turns into a sexual, sadomasochistic one.

Plot Keywords:

Secretary | Masochism | Lawyer | Employer Employee Relationship | Flashback

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 14 wins & 17 nominations

Cast

James Spader	...	Mr. Grey
Maggie Gyllenhaal	...	Lee Holloway
Jeremy Davies	...	Peter
Lesley Ann Warren	...	Joan Holloway
Stephen McHattie	...	Burt Holloway
Patrick Bauchau	...	Dr. Twardon
Jessica Tuck	...	Tricia O'Connor
Oz Perkins	...	Jonathan
Amy Locane	...	Lee's Sister
Mary Joy	...	Sylvia
Michael Mantell	...	Stewart
Lily Knight	...	Paralegal
Sabrina Grdevich	...	Allison
Lacey Kohl	...	Louisa
Julene Renee	...	Jessica

MPAA:

Rated R for strong sexuality, some nudity, depiction of behavioral disorders, and language.

Runtime:

104 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Ireland:18 | Finland:K-15 (self applied) (2006) (TV rating) | Finland:K-18 (self applied) (2006) (DVD) | Italy:T | Iceland:16 | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Brazil:16 | Canada:18A | France:-12 | Germany:16 | Japan:R-15 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R18 | Norway:15 | Peru:18 | Philippines:R-13 | Portugal:M/16 | Singapore:R(A) | South Korea:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R (certificate #38664) | Canada:16+ (Quebec)

Filming Locations:

La Boca Restaurant - 5368 Wilshire, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Slough Pond

Trivia:

In a scene in Mr. Grey's waiting room, where there are three people waiting to see him, one of them is played by the film's screenwriter Erin Cressida Wilson.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Lee picks up and puts down the mirror for practicing her job interview, her thumb is up. In all other views of her holding the mirror, her thumb is across the handle.

Quotes:

Lee: Each cut, each scar, each burn, a different mood or time. I told him what the first one was, told him where the second one came from. I remembered them all. And for the first time in my life I felt beautiful. Finally part of the earth. I touched the soil and he loved me back.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Happy Endings (2005)

Soundtrack:

Georgina

Not Your Typical Office Romance

Maggie Gyllenhaal deserves an Oscar nomination for her brilliant portrayal of borderline psychotic, self-mutilating Lee Holloway, a former mental institution patient seeking to sustain herself - vocationally and emotionally - in a challenging world where she has few safe harbors. She comes from a messy family background although that alone can't explain her illness.

Learning typing, she gets a secretary's job with lawyer E. Edward Grey (James Spader, who also turns in a first-rate, nuanced performance). Grey refuses to have any computers in his very smart, expensive law office. Like many lawyers he's a perfectionist who abhors typographical errors but his obsession with perfection reflects more than an anal personality hitched to a law degree. His solo practice seems to thrive better than his self-control of a suppressed sexuality, awakened by Maggie at first unknowingly.

This is a film about what many consider to be deviant behavior (sado-masochism and bondage-discipline, not your usual Hollywood romantic fun and games) that most will concur is uncommon in the workplace. Director Steven Shainberg and his cast - and Gyllenhaal and Spader carry the film, forget the supporting actors - show Lee and Grey's rocky and developing relationship with candor, without condemnation and without exploitation. The lawyer and his secretary are sexualized in a way few have experienced and those who have don't talk to folks outside their circle.

This is a black comedy/a black drama. It either grabs or repels the viewer: there's no in-between. The resolution? Is it realistic or a cop-out? I'd love to hear from those able to comment from experience on IMDb's discussion board. But I have a feeling few will post reactions.

A very different film that I rate 8/10 on a personal scale where I value the deep and tortured acting projecting the absorbing conflict of this sexualized working (initially) relationship.