Secretary (2002)

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.

Director:

Steven Shainberg

Writers:

Erin Cressida Wilson (screenplay), Mary Gaitskill (short story)

Stars:

James Spader, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jeremy Davies

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 15 wins & 25 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
James Spader	...	Mr. Grey
Maggie Gyllenhaal	...	Lee Holloway
Jeremy Davies	...	Peter
Lesley Ann Warren	...	Joan Holloway
Stephen McHattie	...	Burt Holloway
Patrick Bauchau	...	Dr. Twardon
Jessica Tuck	...	Tricia O'Connor
Oz Perkins	...	Jonathan
Amy Locane	...	Lee's Sister
Mary Joy	...	Sylvia
Michael Mantell	...	Stewart
Lily Knight	...	Paralegal
Sabrina Grdevich	...	Allison
Lacey Kohl	...	Louisa
Julene Renee	...	Jessica

Storyline

An emotionally fragile woman recently released from a mental hospital for self mutilation goes to school to gain secretarial skills to gain employment. She has an alcoholic father and a co-dependent mother who are clueless as to who she really is which a tormented soul who really wants to find something with which she can find success. She is a great secretary and finds a job with a unique, old fashioned, but off center in charge boss with a somewhat sadistic sexual proclivity. She grows and evolves and so does he.

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Plot Keywords:

secretary | employer employee relationship | bdsm | submissive woman | sexual role playing | 

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Taglines:

Assume the position.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong sexuality, some nudity, depiction of behavioral disorders, and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [France] Official site [UK]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 October 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

La secretaria

Filming Locations:

La Boca Restaurant - 5368 Wilshire, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$4,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$182,306, 22 September 2002, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$4,059,680

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$9,304,609

Company Credits

Production Co:

Slough Pond, TwoPoundBag Productions, double A Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

James Spader and Maggie Gyllenhaal both appered in movies based on Comic books, James Spader, James Spader Avenger:Age Of Ultron (2015) and Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Dark Knight (2008)

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Goofs

Following the laundromat scene, Mr. Grey is shown circling the misspelled word "genderr" in a legal document; however, when Mr. Grey shows the document to Lee, "gender" is correctly spelled and not circled. Three other typos ("petietion," "coverageis," and "theabsent") are circled instead.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Lee: [narrating] I got out of the institution on the day of my sister's wedding. I had started to get used to the place. Breakfast at 8:00, classes at 2:00. Therapy at 4:00, and asleep by 10:00.
Dr. Twardon: [Lee's doctor says goodbye] You can call me any time, Lee. I will always try to be of help to you.
Lee: [narrating] Inside, life was simple.
Lee: [Lee hugs her doctor] Thank you, Dr. Twardon.
Lee: [narrating] For that reason, I was reluctant to go.

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Crazy Credits

The legal disclaimer has typing errors:

• "fictitious" is misspelled "ficticious"
• "unintentional" is misspelled "unitentional"
• unauthorized use of the film is warned as resulting in "civil liberty" instead of "civil liability"

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Connections

Featured in Indie Sex: Extremes (2007)

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Soundtracks

Vertigogo
Performed by Combustible Edison
Written by Michael Cudahy (as Michael F. Cudahy)
Courtesy of Elektra Records

User Reviews

Intriguing story

Secretary is the first of its kind - a very dark love story. First of its kind in that it deals with themes never seen before seen in mainstream Hollywood cinema - S&M, sexual dominance and submission.

Maggie Gyllenhaal is outstanding in a potential minefield of a role - she handles it with dignity and even provides some effective dark humour.

The story here is that her character, Lee, applies for a job as a secretary for the firm owned by James Spader's brilliant Mr Grey. However, Lee has a history of self-harm and masochism and Grey has a dominance complex along with a very sadistic streak. Combine these 2 in theory and you have 2 very happy people. But this is no ordinary love story...

Spader, as stated, is brilliant. He brings an icy steel to the troubled Grey, but also provides a touch of black humour which comes at some great moments to 'release the tension'.

For the themes supplied here you'd probably expect a lot of raunchiness - well there are sexual moments, of course, but there is nothing gratuitous, which is in itself an achievement and well handled.

Overall it's quirky, off-beat, and a little bit different.

Worth a view.