Secretary - 2002

I was blown away when I first saw this film. It just caught me so off-guard. I was so suprised by some of the scenes. I just didn't expect it. The film has always stuck with me as original and avante garde (ahead of its time). It has an odd mix of drama with comedy. Maggie Gyllenhaal's performance is superb.


Secretary is a 2002 independent drama film directed by Steven Shainberg. It stars Maggie Gyllenhaal as Lee Holloway and James Spader as E. Edward Grey. The film is based on a short story from Bad Behavior by Mary Gaitskill.


Lee Holloway (Maggie Gyllenhaal), the socially awkward and emotionally sensitive youngest daughter of a dysfunctional family, adjusts to normal life after having been hospitalized following an incident of dangerous self-harm. She learns to type, starts to date an acquaintance from high school named Peter, and begins to work as a secretary for an eccentric attorney, E. Edward Grey (James Spader), who hires her despite her stilted social skills and unprofessional appearance.


Though at first Grey appears highly irritated at Lee's typos and other innocuous mistakes, it soon becomes apparent that he is sexually aroused by her submissive behavior. After he confronts her about her propensity for self-injury and commands that she never hurt herself again, the two embark on a very different sorty of relationship. Lee experiences a sexual and personal awakening, and she falls deeply in love.


Many changes were made from Mary Gaitskill's original short story, which had to be significantly expanded and given greater depth in order to be made into a feature-length film. On the small scale, individual lines were changed, such as the protagonist's use of "I'm so stupid" in one instance becoming a fantasy-sequence cry of "I'm your Secretary," which the director thought far more "celebratory." Additionally, the ending of the story was changed to give a more positive outcome to the relationship. Steven Shainberg stated that he wished to show that BDSM relationships can be normal and was inspired by My Beautiful Laundrette which he feels normalized gay relationships for audiences in the 1980s.