How a Secretary Learns S/M

Secretary The protagonist in "Secretary," Lee (played by Maggie Gyllenhaal), goes from recently having been released from a mental institution, to learning how to type, to a job with an odd, controlling lawyer, to being his mistress of pain, to becoming his happy, horny lover at the end. It is quite a bizarre and sometimes erotic ride through this "R-rated" film. James Spader plays the part of the attorney (E.

Edward Grey), and he leads this naive but attractive woman -- who is on her very first job -- through some cruel, creepy scenes. Referring to this picture as a romantic comedy would be a stretch. On the face of it, it's about a woman struggling to become a normal working woman who is into cutting herself on a regular basis -- until her lawyer boss provides hard spanking as a substitute for the pain from cutting her legs.

This is more of a psychological story than a romantic story, albeit there is romance at the end of the film. The frequent flashbacks and vivid imaginary scenes cause a viewer to wonder -- is this scene real or is it a sly interjection of surrealism courtesy of director Steven Shainberg? There is plenty of sexual tension and Spader and Gyllenhaal are extremely well cast.

The lawyer is ultra picky about her clothes, her hair, the fact that she sniffles -- but its only because the audience comes to realize he likes her and is attracted to her but he has his own hang-ups. He has obviously been through a number of secretaries; the sign on his front gate advertising a job for a secretary is permanent.

Although the theme running through much of the film is sadomasochism, and there are a few nude scenes and hard spanking, the bondage is nowhere near what film goers experience in "Fifty Shades of Grey." Spader's character Grey confuses Lee; just when Lee is getting into being submissive and letting her lawyer boss spank her and otherwise dominate her, Grey pulls back. Lee misses his orneriness and his obsessive spankings, and she begins to masturbate while fanaticizing about Grey.

Oddly, one day Grey orders Lee to bend over the desk as he often has and she is thrilled because it's been quite a long time since his last spanking. However, this time he asks her to pull down her pantyhose. She is curiously delighted, thinking he is finally going to have intercourse with her. But instead of penetrating her vagina, as she apparently really wants him to do, he masturbates and squirts semen on his pants in the process.

He says, "I'm not going to fuck you…I'm not going to fuck you," and Shainberg's camera shows Lee being curious, freaked out, and several other emotions as all this is going on. In fact Shainberg focuses his lens in the faces of the two main characters constantly; both actors have very expressive faces, especially Gyllenhaal. Her eyes can be dreamy and sensually inspired one minute, lost in another minute, confused, frightened and scared in yet another minute.

They are big eyes, and Shainberg could have cut her part of the dialogue in half and her eyes and her body language would have presented plenty of material for the viewer. If anyone thinks that S/M is being promoted in this film, they misunderstand the story. It really comes down on the one hand to the poor self-esteem of a young woman from a dysfunctional family who was recently institutionalized, and the slow but sure build-up of that self-esteem.

And on the other hand, the lawyer (her boss) is into fetishes (from lining up red markers to using the flat of his hand to smack Lee's bottom), is obsessive compulsive, and easily becomes jealous when he sees his secretary kissing and having fun with a man in a Laundromat. That jealousy leads to Grey paying attention to his attractive secretary in the hopes.