Secretary

    Secretary
    2002

    Synopsis

    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.

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    Cast

    • James SpaderMr. Grey
    • Maggie GyllenhaalLee Holloway
    • Jeremy DaviesPeter
    • Lesley Ann WarrenJoan Holloway
    • Stephen McHattieBurt Holloway
    • Patrick BauchauDr. Twardon
    • Jessica TuckTricia O'Connor
    • Osgood PerkinsJonathan
    • Amy LocaneLee's Sister
    • Mary JoySylvia

    Recommendations

    • 80

      Wall Street Journal

      Lee's journey of the body and soul is something else. Maggie Gyllenhaal makes it strangely touching, a revelation.
    • 80

      Rolling Stone

      A film of startling humor and feeling. For that, director Steven Shainberg, who co-wrote the script with Erin Cressida Wilson, owes much to two remarkable performances.
    • 80

      Newsweek

      Manages to be simultaneously subversive and sweet.
    • 75

      Boston Globe

      Love hurts in Secretary -- but not too much. It's not impossible to imagine adventurous young couples seeing this movie and rushing home to try out the handcuffs and paddles.
    • 75

      Chicago Sun-Times

      Approaches the tricky subject of sadomasochism with a stealthy tread, avoiding the dangers of making it either too offensive, or too funny.
    • 60

      New York Magazine (Vulture)

      Secretary is deeply conventional: Edward and Lee accept their bondage as the way to a more fulfilling life. It's the filmmakers who need to be spanked.
    • 40

      The New Yorker

      Not meant to be realistic; it was shot by the director Steven Shainberg in a slow, dreamy neo-De Palma style and in candy colors, and Gyllenhaal has a Kewpie-doll silliness that almost makes the naughty parts of the movie fun. [23 Sept 2002, p. 98]
    • 40

      New Times (L.A.)

      The problem with Secretary isn't that it is offensive or unnerving -- although you get the idea the filmmakers hoped it might be at least one of those. The problem is that the story is slow-moving and dull.

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