strange_complex | 4. Secretary (2002), dir. Steven Shainberg

A friend lent me this, and it lay around unwatched in my lounge for about a fortnight because it looked kind of dire from the box. What I was getting from the packaging was 'rom-com with a mild male-fantasy-style kink twist'. But now that I've actually sat down and watched it, I think it's only fair to say that it was quite a lot more character-driven and intelligent than that would suggest.

The blurb on the back of the box reads as follows:

"When Lee Holloway (Maggie Gyllenhaal) gets a job as a secretary in a small firm she does her best to please. But her new boss (James Spader) finds fault with her typing and administers a rather unconventional kind of punishment. Soon Lee realises that she is not only becoming the perfect secretary, but also the woman she always wanted to be."

But what that doesn't really convey is that the film isn't just 'secretary and her boss start an S&M relationship' (which would be quite dull and almost certainly misogynistic and shot through with clichés and moral hypocrisy), but that it is also a story of genuine character growth, focused above all on the female character (Lee). In fact, both she and the lawyer who hires her (E. Edward Grey) are portrayed as quite troubled individuals at the point when their relationship begins. She comes from a dysfunctional family with a dangerously alcoholic father, has been cutting herself since her early teens, has spent time in an institution because of it, and has absolutely no self-confidence. He - well, we have less idea about exactly what is going on in his mind, because he isn't the main focus of the story, but we know that his previous marriage has failed in a very acrimonious way, and he is clearly quite uncomfortable with his sexual identity, breaking off the relationship with Lee part-way through the film (which is, of course, a typical rom-com trope) for this reason.

What Grey gives to Lee is a level of understanding and attention no-one has ever shown her before, and more importantly one which is focused on demanding perfection from her. That sounds kind of creepy, and would be in most relationships, but for the particular personality that is Lee, it liberates her from her own lack of self-confidence and helps her to discover that she can be strong and competent and even independent in a way she has never been before. Meanwhile, her obvious enjoyment of his dominance, and the steely determination she displays in submitting to him help him to reconcile himself to his (and her) sexuality, and realise that it can be something he takes honest pleasure in rather than having to hide it away and try to deny it. So they grow together, work out what they want from one another and each give something which the other was missing.

Around that strong central plot, there is a lot of intelligent detail and design, too. Grey's hobby, for example, is growing orchids, which means that he spends a lot of time near-obsessively spraying them with mist and clipping them, in a close parallel to the same kind of nurturing dominance that he also bestows on Lee. And there is all sorts of stuff about visibility and the male gaze, too. We frequently see him spying on her round corners while she is completely oblivious to this, establishing his voyeuristic interest in her. But this also gives her a kind of visibility which she has never really had before - and which is made explicit when he asks to take a photograph of her with his old-school Polaroid camera, and starts building up an album of images of her. At the end of the film, once they have established a happy relationship together, the final shot before the end credits is of her looking calmly, confidently and happily into the camera, as though meeting the voyeur's gaze and asking "Yes? And?"

But there were some things about the film I wasn't so keen on, and that includes the happily-ever-after ending, which managed to annoy me in spite of the final 'reverse gaze' shot. The conclusion is meant to be that Lee and Grey's relationship has blossomed into a rounded, permanent partnership, and that they have found ways to incorporate their S&M desires into it in ways that they are both happy with. Which is great, but I found it annoying that the closing scenes of their happy marriage also make it clear that while he is still working as a lawyer, she is now a stay-at-home housewife who doesn't have a job. It seemed a bit of a let-down after the obvious pride she had taken in finding that she could be confident and efficient in a work situation as their relationship developed - and indeed puts her in much the same position as her obviously dysfunctional mother at the start of the film.

On the whole, though, not bad at all. It's just a pity that it is packaged and marketed as a less interesting film than it actually is.

Click here if you would like view this entry in light text on a dark background.