July 11, 2003
Secretary (2002)
[3 - Enjoyed it]
I had been tracking director Steven Shainberg's movie Secretary (2002) as it went through the development cycle but honestly did not expect much from it. When the movie came to theaters I dismissed it as yet another Exit to Eden (1994) style titillating but empty Hollywood flick trying to use popular hype around sadomasochism to sell some movie tickets. As friends started seeing the movie and recommending it to me I started to wonder if maybe I had been a bit too quick to judge from early press releases and articles.
What I found, once I rented the movie and watched it through, was a surprisingly fresh and intelligent film about infatuation, vulnerability, kink and the search for love. While the sexual perversions that the title characters enjoy is integral to the story, it is not what this movie is about. The movie is instead a story about falling in love and not being sure how to make that love work. While the script was far from perfect, the superb acting and screen chemistry of James Spader and Maggie Gyllenhaal is what makes this movie work. They both convey the desperation and desire that drives their characters as well as the frustration they feel at unrealized love. I realize this movie is not for everyone. If a bit of S&M freaks you out, skip this movie and go for a more traditional love story. If you can appreciate different loving, you are in for a treat with Secretary.
Posted by Leopoldo at July 11, 2003 03:10 PM | TrackBackI watched this movie on DVD when I read some reviews (both pro and con) about the performances and somehwat touchy subject matter.
From the opening scene where we see Lee (Gyllenhaal) performing office chores while trussed in a metal bar to the tenderness shown during the cleansing bath, the content between laid bare for al to see the true nature of human diversity and the perversity of human relationships. This was not a typical love story, and not atypical if taken as metaphor.
To what lengths will people go to be loved and to love in return? Some of the audience would say this was a sick, twisted and abnormal relationship and with much justification. Others would say that two jagged pieces of a human puzzle connected and that love, any love is divine in its own right.
Spader and Gyllenhaal give very good performances once again. The cinematic flow was very nice, but the pacing seemed to be beliberately too slow, as if the director didn't trust his audience and had to beat some of the meanings he wanted us to understand into our heads. There were many scenes where it seemed we HAD to see the mental wheels of the characters turning. Not once but many times. The music, though used sparingly, was efficient in conveying the mood and accompanying us to the next scenes.
Ultimately, we are asked this: Can we judge this relationship without putting ourselves into the shoes of the two individuals involved? No, we can't. No more than an owl can judge a deer. They say that love conquers all, that love can heal the deepest wounds of the human condition. At the end, this movie shackles us and whispers sweet nothings into our captive ears.
TW
Posted by: TrueWatcher on July 11, 2003 07:06 PM
