Secretary - Film Review Friday
One of my favourite niches of film is unconventional romance. Not the 20-a-year fairytale Hollywood propaganda filmmaking that inspires you to re-download Tinder, Bumble and Hinge all at the same time. The odd, uncanny valley, just bordering on your personal limits, unconventional romantic film. You can keep your ‘Love Actually’, ‘Bridget Jones’s Diary’ and ‘Pride And Prejudice’ discs. You can keep your Ryan Reynolds, your Matthew McConaughey and your Hugh Grant. I like the kind of romances Nora Ephron wouldn’t dare touch. The kinds where you feel smart for calling out how ridiculous the story is only to realise you were close-minded. The kinds that slowly change your understanding about what romance is and could be.[ez-toc]
‘Secretary’ happens to be a film made the year I was born and stars James Spader with Maggie Gyllenhaal. At first glance, you might mistake it for a soft-core porno or a ‘Fifty Shades Of Grey’ knockoff, and why wouldn’t you? Two posters for the film were prominently used: one depicting a woman’s rear with the title typed across (the tagline reading “Assume The Position”) and another depicting Maggie with a document in her mouth, preparing coffee for James. But what really lies behind the suggestive posters is, I would argue, a story of two people who learn to be less self-conscious/demonising of their sexual tastes. I’m sure quite a few of us can relate.
Lee Holloway is a woman who has struggled with her mental health since childhood. Raised by an alcoholic father and an anxious mother, she developed a practice of self-harm to cope and was sent away to a mental hospital shortly after. She soon finds a talent for typing and after being released from the hospital, applies for a secretary position for attorney Edward Grey. What seems to be a promising career opportunity soon turns highly questionable as Grey begins to test the boundaries of the employer-employee relationship. One day, he calls Lee into his office to discipline her physically over a typing error. This awakens something in Lee and the two begin a complicated romantic relationship, later resulting in guilt and shame. If everything is consensual, encouraged and enjoyed, why does it feel so terrible after?
Maggie Gyllenhaal plays Lee and absolutely charms and breaks hearts in this performance. It’s so satisfying to see her as a shy, nervous and socially awkward young woman slowly becoming more independent, more confident and even gaining the upper hand against Grey at times. You know that cliched moment where the geeky girl takes off her glasses to reveal she’s been gorgeous this whole time? Gyllenhaal doesn’t need those glasses; the transition is so much more natural, so much more subtle. She could easily be one of my favorite romantic protagonists.
James Spader plays Edward Grey and seems to effortlessly nail the character’s duality. He’s assertive but still able to be knocked off his feet. He’s demanding, but still at the mercy of Lee and himself. He’s harsh and out-of-nowhere but also nurturing and therapeutic. It’s a wonderful portrayal of a man unsure of himself and there are definitely elements in his performance I can see in myself. Like many philosophers have said, “the hardest thing for one to know is oneself”, and Spader delivers that message exceptionally.
Angelo Badalamenti, the longtime musical collaborator of David Lynch, composed the score for this film. The soundtrack is filled with soft piano melodies teamed with tender bass and guitar strums, finished with shivering maracas. It’s a deeply melancholy and reflective soundtrack that can only be compared to the likes of ‘House M.D.’, ‘Good Will Hunting’ and ‘Sliding Doors’. Outside of Badalamenti’s compositions, the film also uses an instrumental of ‘I’m Your Man’ by Leonard Cohen for the opening scene and ‘Chariots Rise’ by Lizzie West for the final scene. Both work extremely well for their content, with Cohen’s instrumental setting a predatory tone as we watch Lee struggle to make coffee as her hands are tied to a pole behind her neck, and West’s ballad beautifully complementing an ending most of us can only dream of.
It’s beyond important to expand our horizons and understanding of what love can be. You may watch ‘Her’ and see a loser making ChatGPT his girlfriend. You may watch ‘Lars And The Real Girl’ and see a man trying to normalise a sex doll. You may watch ‘Secretary’ and see a couple making their workplace a suggestive playground, but I don’t see that. In films like these, I see people just like you and me struggling to find a soulmate to whom they can expose their insecurities, their weaknesses and still feel accepted. It’s a hard thing to find nowadays, someone with whom you can truly feel yourself with, warts and all. These kinds of films show that maybe we can have our “Happily ever after” without ever needing a “Once upon a time”.
