01/20/2013 (0 of 0 found this helpful)

Not your typical love story!

Lee Halloway (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is a twenty-something girl with serious emotional disorders who is just released from a mental institution. She returns back home, but things haven't changed since her departure. Eventually she falls back into her old pattern, the worst of which is self-mutilation. She, as most self-mutilators do, inflicts bloodletting and pain on herself in order to "feel alive".

She applies for a job as a secretary at a lawyer's office owned by E. Edward Grey and tries frantically to stay sane, but her dysfunctional family isn't helping nor is Mr. Grey, who is a bully of a boss. We understand her submissive nature and why she would be attracted to her domineering boss played by James Spader. He is thoroughly convincing as a repressed, guilt ridden individual who stru...

Rating of
3.5/4 

07/08/2012 (0 of 0 found this helpful)

"Secretary" by Yojimbo

What little I knew of this film made me fear it would be an exercise in misogynistic titillation for beer swilling macho louts. How wrong I was. What I discovered was a smart, sexy and insightful analogy for and examination of relationships, and what they represent. What could easily have been misinterpreted as exploitation of an emotionally vulnerable young woman really shows how a relationship is about the needs of the individuals involved, and if they conjoin in such a way as to satisfy both, who is to judge whether or not it is "right" or "wrong"? Maggie Gyllenhaal's evolution from self harming neurotic to happy and fulfilled young woman is far more affirming and positive than the usual Meg Ryan/Hugh Grant/Andie McDowell infested Hallmark moment churned out by the Hollywood conveyor b...

Rating of
3/4