Last Updated: 11 April 2004

Secretary (2003)

Starring: James Spader, Maggie Gyllenhaal
Directed by: Stephen Shainberg

This is one of those films I didn't know what to expect when I walked into the cinema, and ended up leaving it thinking my £7.50 was well spent on exercising my brain.

Secretary is not a film that everyone will get or appreciate. If you watch this movie looking for a storyline, then you will not get it at all. The film is about the characters and it is tough getting your head around it to stay on the ball.

Secretary tells of Lee (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a young woman whose disturbing life and past leads her to self-mutilation. The start starts with Lee leaving a mental institution two years after entering. In an attempt to rebuild her life, she decides to persue a job and finds one with lawyer E. Edward Grey (James Spader). As time passes, their relationship turns into a sadomasochistic one, but far from disturbing Lee more, it proves to be her saviour.

The plot isn't complicated, in fact it is very one dimensional in places, and it does get tedious in some places when it feels like it's dragging its feet. However, it does one thing very well and opens up discussion about mental illness and the various degrees of it, and indeed how we as viewers treat sufferers in our own minds. Indeed, each of the characters have their own quirks including an obsessive mother and a drunkard and abusive father.

This is a difficult movie to get your head around. Of my three friends with me, only one thought it was good, and the other two completely missed the message.

For me, it is a very good movie, but I know this one isn't for everyone. Indeed, I think I may need to see it again myself to fully appreaciate everything.

One to remember to bring your thinking caps.

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