Review of Secretary (2002) by Luiserghio M — 16 Jan 2010
Lee was recently released from a mental institution and returns to her family to try and live a normal life. Unfortunately those old masochistic urges return, despite her attempts to keep them at bay. She finds a job as a secretary for Edward Gray, a paralegal. After working under his harsh control she finds that she is the submissive to his dominant personality and tries her hardest to do what no one has ever done: get close to him.
Two things I have to point out right off the bat. This film has excellent performances from James Spader (Edward) and Maggie Gyllenhaal. It also movies at a painfully slow pace. This film was obviously trying to be more than just your average romance movie. If you can see it all coming, you may just barely recognize it. But a comedy? Only in the darkest sense. This definitely feels more like a straight drama. As I said the performances are great, and really help to do what I think the script doesn't quite accomplish: get us into the characters' heads. And that is simply the only way to make this film work. And it did work for me. But because this film, like the BDSM genre, works more towards bitter than to sweet, it was a little difficult and even a tad frustrating. Lee's character was very well explained and handled, and I really felt able to connect with her. Edward, not so much. Overall, I really don't know what to say about this one. It's a bold look at unorthodox relationships with great acting. But the pace is deathly slow, and I found really nothing comedic about it. I felt that if this had played the emotion card more strongly it would have been better. With nothing really left to say, I'll just call this movie an 'acquired taste' and leave it at that. By the sum of its parts it's pretty solid, if a bit weird. And there's a difference between liking a film and considering it good, so I'll give "Secretary" 6 worms out of 10.
"You're not shy. You're a lawyer." -Lee.
"Who's to say that love needs to be soft and gentle?" Dr. Twardon.
This review of Secretary (2002) was written by Luiserghio M on 16 Jan 2010.
Secretary has generally received positive reviews.
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