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Maggie Gyllenhaal, James Spader, Jeremy Davies, Lesley Ann Warren, Stephen McHattie ... see more see more... , Patrick Bauchau , Oz Perkins , Jessica Tuck , Amy Locane , Mary Joy , Michael Mantell , Sabrina Grdevich , Lily Knight , Lacey Kohl , Julene Renee

Sadomasochism provides the backdrop for a very unusual employer/employee relationship in this very offbeat romantic drama from filmmaker Steven Shainberg. Lee Holloway (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is a shy you... read more read more...ng woman, who, after a brief spell in a mental institution, is released in the care of her overprotective mother (Lesley Ann Warren) and hard-drinking father (Stephen McHattie). Hoping to make good on her own, Lee begins looking for a job, and in her free time indulges in her odd habit of inflicting pain upon herself in various ways. Lee is hired as a secretary by E. Edward Grey (James Spader), a grim and ruthlessly efficient attorney who warns her that her work will be both dull and demanding. Lee takes to the job with genuine enthusiasm, and while she's recently acquired a new boyfriend, Peter (Jeremy Davies), she's far more intrigued by Grey's coldly patrician demeanor. While Grey often criticizes Lee, she seems to thrive on his abuse, but one day he crosses a line when he insists upon spanking her after some minor mistake. Lee quite enjoys the treatment, and wants it to continue, but Grey can no longer take pleasure humiliating Lee when he knows that she likes it; he fires her, despite her pleas to be allowed to stay. Finally discovering the key to her sexual and emotional needs, Lee tries to persuade Peter to be rough with her, but he simply doesn't have the taste or talent for it, and Lee soon maps out a last-ditch effort to win back her position with Grey, whatever the cost. Secretary won a special award for "Originality" at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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83% liked it

56,804 ratings

Critics

75% liked it

142 critics

R, 1 hr. 52 min.

Directed by: Steven Shainberg

Release Date: September 20, 2002

Keywords: romance, strange, date

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DVD Release Date: April 1, 2003

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Stats: 5,332 reviews

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Secretary Secretary Secretary Secretary james spader Secretary James Spader Maggie Gyllenhaal Maggie Gyllenhaal Maggie Gyllenhaal Maggie Gyllenhaal Maggie Gyllenhaal Maggie Gyllenhaal Secretary Secretary Maggie Gyllenhaal Maggie Gyllenhaal & Jeremy Davies Secretary
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Flixster Reviews (5,332)

  • 76Majikat
    August 26, 2011
    76Majikat
    A progressive story from self harm to S&M, quite a strange view on the subject and the style in which it presents itself and yet something makes this film an intriguing watch.

    Maggie Gyllenhaal is once again comfortable with her body in this film, which must make awkward viewing... read more to Brother Jake at times.
  • groaningbitch
    June 5, 2011
    groaningbitch
    everyone praises actors, directors whenever a good movie is made, but me, i praise the script-writer. i like to listen into the dialogues and discover some hidden emotions behind the words. ERIN CRESSIDA WILSON is the writer for this picture, and she made it happen. i liked her c... read morehoices of words so well that i had to check into imdb to search for the genuis behind those words.

    briefly the story is about a female masochist who meets a male sadist, and they engage in some sort of complicit sex-games without actual consummation until the man decides to call a stop before the further emotional involvement. of course, the story is NOT that simple. that is the insensitive way to generalize the movie.

    how about the sensitive way? an emotionally desolated woman walks out of asylum and all she finds is a mediocre home which doesn't offer her any light or hope, and she temporally dissolves all these problems by cutting herself just to feel alive. she's inconfident, un-self-assured, socially inadequate, escorted by mother and sister. her efficient typing ability is the only thing she truly takes pride in and her biggest aspiration in life is to become a secretary, a stepping stone for her indepedence.

    then she meets an eccentric lawyer who has an odd perfectionist insistance to red-mark on anything! he has issues with women because of some hidden un-speakable irreconciled mental trauma inside him. he spots something in her that he could instinctually recognize and resonate. he coaxes her into not cutting herself by transferring her drive for self-multilation into a titilating game of sadomasochistic sexual foreplay without actual fonication. perhaps it is more positive to get spanked on the rectrum than use a knife to cut yourself. he just gratifies her need and her want to be punished! the only actual physical touch over there is the woman's hand moving slowly just to touch the man's fingers. somehow severely repressed people need extreme ways to relent their streams of emotions or lust.

    if you see chloe, the atom egoyan movie, the scriptor is also erin cressida wilson, and that is a story about a call-girl looking for love in the most un-usual circumstance through cheating and lying...my point is erin cressida wilson writes stories of unusual romances on jaded, desperate, lonely people who look for love in various far-from-commonplace ways (wrong places by normal standards) because they're deprived of the capacity to obtain or feel love in the normal ways as the obstacles of their past bind them from experiencing usual empathy available to all. in two simple words: WEIRDO LOVE. but in this kind of romances, you find the most sincere sort of love since it transcends your commonplace, humdrum perceptions of love. those people are just like little fishes confined in a tiny plastic bag made of their emotional difficulties, but those little fishes just gotta smash their heads off to make a hole and escape out of the microcosmos of their little plastic bag to seek love and make love happening even at the end, the little fishes might die of drought. but they just have to love! isn't it romantic? (ok, that may be me who thinks in that way. maybe i'm twisted as well.)

    here's some of the best dialogues from ERIN CRESSIDA WILSON:

    on suffering:
    "In one way or another I've always suffered. I didn't know why exactly. But I do know that I'm not so scared of suffering now. I feel more than I've ever felt and I've found someone to feel with. To play with. To love in a way that feels right for me. I hope he knows that I can see that he suffers too. And that I want to love him. "

    on self-multilation:
    "Is it that sometimes the pain inside has to come to the surface, and when you see evidence of the pain inside you finally know you're really here? Then, when you watch the wound heal, it's comforting... isn't it? "
  • erika250
    May 18, 2011
    erika250
    Secretary is about a woman that just got out of mental hospital. She gets a job as secretary. At first her relationship with her boss goes by the boss and worker relationship but over time it turns in to a romantic relationship that is not typical in a working place.
    Pros
    Good ... read moreacting
    Good plot
    It really shows what mental illness does to you and what a not normal working relationship looks like,
    It was funny in a way. I think in is one of better films of the 2000's
    If you want a film that in not in the norm of films or film that taking a look into mental illness you should give this a try.
  • jennifxu
    April 29, 2011
    jennifxu
    Yuck, why does Maggie Gyllenhaal talk in such a weird voice the entire time?
  • wildaly14
    February 4, 2011
    wildaly14
    My "guilty sin" movie. I have watched it many times and cannot get enough of it. Lee Holloway and E. Edward Grey are perfect for each other. To see this kind of romance film out there makes me very happy indeed.
  • aliceinpunderland
    June 19, 2010
    aliceinpunderland
    Holy heck. Never has a movie with so little actual sex been so erotic. Maggie Gyllenhaal is perfect in her first starring role. She infuses Lee with a fragile strength - strength that, most people don't realize, needs to exist in a true Dominant/submissive relationship. It ta... read morekes much power and control on the submissive's part to fully submit, as shown in the climax, which leads to a blissfully romantic denouement.

    For some reason, I don't find James Spader attractive. I think it's because he looks like Mayor Adam West from "Family Guy."
  • middleeasternfilms
    October 30, 2009
    middleeasternfilms
    I didn't know what to expect from this one. I watched it with an open mind, but really couldn't help but be disappointed. Spader and Gyllenhaal are great, but the movie drags on with little going for it. Odd and hard to get into to are probably the best ways to describe this one.... read more Not quite softcore porn, not quite dark comedy.
  • SirPant
    September 22, 2009
    SirPant
    Naughty but nice, Spader and Gyllenhaal are brilliant in this sexy comedy drama.
  • bookmunki
    December 7, 2008
    bookmunki
    this is a very loose adaptation of mary gaitskill's story, but the liberties taken with the plot fit with her style. well acted. relationships built on bdsm can be strangely sweet....the end was conventional hollywood style.
  • ceWEBrity
    September 18, 2008
    ceWEBrity
    I told my friend I thought this was cute and he called me weird but I am totally right. If you automatically equate sexual deviation to perversion or something that deserves unease/consternation, then obviously you won't enjoy this movie. It's unapologetic in its portrayal of S/M... read more fetishism and I'm pretty sure that's not going to change many minds. What's most fascinating about the sexual backbone of the plot is that, despite how it so clearly influences the way the characters act and the choices they make, it is still reinforcing a love story at heart. Two people in need completing themselves with each other? That's the stuff Hollywood loves - this is just a darkly comic, uniquely sexy treatment of the material.

View All Secretary Reviews

Critic Reviews

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
November 4, 2002
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The cast comes through even when the movie doesn't.

Jay Boyar
October 17, 2002
Jay Boyar, Orlando Sentinel

Despite its flaws, Secretary stays in your head and makes you question your own firmly held positions.

Richard Leiby
October 11, 2002
Richard Leiby, Washington Post

A picture with heart. You shouldn't leave feeling soiled or bruised. Just touched.

Desson Thomson
October 10, 2002
Desson Thomson, Washington Post

Self-serious and ultimately pedestrian satire.

Andrew Sarris
October 2, 2002
Andrew Sarris, New York Observer

I don't know about you, but I found all these outrageously romantic maneuvers both funny and endearing. Full Review

Mike Clark
September 27, 2002
Mike Clark, USA Today

Secretary is just too original to be ignored. Full Review

Mick LaSalle
September 27, 2002
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

It provokes nothing but yawns, and the sex it explores is stuff everybody knows about and says, 'So what?' Full Review

Eric Harrison
September 27, 2002
Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle

Though it was made with careful attention to detail and is well-acted by James Spader and Maggie Gyllenhaal, I felt disrespected. Full Review

Susan Stark
September 27, 2002
Susan Stark, Detroit News

Both lead performances are earnest in the extreme and that the psychological explanations for what's shown on screen are facile, at best. Full Review

Terry Lawson
September 27, 2002
Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press

A good piece of writing.

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Secretary Trivia

  • In 'The Producers', Max declares that he has worked very hard, so he is going to buy himself a toy. What does he get himself?  Answer »
  • In "Liar Liar", where did Fletcher REALLY get the photo frame he gave his secretary?  Answer »
  • What does the secretary say to the principal about Ferris Bueller in Ferris Bueller's Day Off?  Answer »
  • Name the actor that starts in the movies Secretary, Supernova, Sex, lies and videotapes and The Watcher  Answer »
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