Ass-spankingly good S&M comedy
(X [)1’ )F ‘il.\.‘.1l.\ SECRETARY (18) 104min 0.0.
What happens when a sadist and a masochist come together? In this S&M black comedy, it‘s the beginning of a beautiful relationship. Actually, James Spader‘s lawyer boss E Edward Grey and Maggie Gyllenhaal’s secretary Lee Holloway don’t come together, they come separately. In one scene, for example, Mr Grey has Miss Holloway bend over his desk and jerks off over the back of her blouse. But later, he hits Miss Holloway‘s G-spot when he has her pull her pants down for a good, hard ass-spanking.
You’d be forgiven for thinking Secretary is an exploitative piece of soft- porn trash. It is, in fact, a smartly scripted and directed (by Steven Shainberg, adapting Mary Gaitskill‘s short story) and superbly acted comic drama, the dark undercurrents of which give way to something really very sweet.
Just out of a mental hospital, but far from cured of her tendency to self mutilate, Lee manages to secure a job in Grey’s office, which, devoid of other staff and decorated in rich dark hues looks like the set of a David Lynch movie. There, the stunningly uptight Grey swiftly asserts his managerial power by forcing Lee into the kind of S&M play outlined above. She indulges her boss, finding the relationship strangely empowering. Indeed, it proves mutually beneficial to both parties, as Lee and Grey heal their respective emotional wounds through the office affair.
This is the film's transgressive message: lust and love in whatever form can be a beautiful thing. And as unusual as Mr Grey and Miss Holloway‘s relationship is, who‘s to say what‘s healthy and acceptable and what’s not? (Miles Fielder)
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