SECRETARY

This daring and sexy film featuring James Spader and Maggie Gyllenhall is controversial, even in the D/s community it seeks to shed some light on.

Now, I've always been a fan of James Spader, and I've long believed he was up to delivering a pretty hot spanking, but in this film he proves that either he is as kinky as they get, or he is the Marlon Brando of kinky films.

Lawyer E. Edward Grey (Spader) wallows in angst while struggling to resist both his own nature and that of his lost and emotionally fragile secretary.

Lee Holloway (Gyllenhall) is more than just emotionally fragile. She has a family history that has pushed her beyond her coping skills, and finds relief in self-inflicting small body harm upon herself. Lee is a cutter, plain and simple.

She’s also determined to leave her mental illness behind, to have what she perceives as a perfect, normal life - dull, quiet, boring, and employed.

You engage with Lee from the moment the film opens. She’s fragile, painfully introverted, and yet so resolute that you truly want her to succeed.

Grey is a harder character to relate to. His mood swings, his obsessive-compulsiveness, and his own angst make him almost impossible to quite figure out. He’s an enigma, even to himself.

Through their interaction Lee and Grey must come to terms with their desires, and each other’s desires. They struggle with the urge to conform to what they perceive as a normal life, denying themselves the right to be who they really are.

What makes this film controversial for the D/s community is that Lee, a masochist and submissive, has a history of mental instability and self-harm. Many people see this as a way of casting submissive and masochistic tendencies in a pathological way.

I disagree. I believe the film honours Lee in her search to direct her need for pain and strong guidance into a healthy outlet. It shows her researching the world of submission and masochism, exploring it, and finally accepting that this is who she is, and that she has every right to seek happiness.

Grey, as well, grows into his own when he accepts – after much struggle and soul-searching – his sadistic, dominant nature.

Secretary is a love story. A quirky, kinky, funny love story that touches the roots of who we are and how we seek to fill needs we don’t even understand.

It’s also full of some very sexy moments for those of us who like our passion with a dark edge. It touched on some pretty common and hot fantasies without apology. Few kinksters walked away unmoved by the interplay between Lee and Grey.

I stand by it wholeheartedly.

Secretary’s IMBD site.