Talking To The Screen
Secretary
Thursday 1/16/03, 3:33 pm
Home
Romantic comedies are nearly homogenously trite and boring. With the notable exceptions of ?When Harry Met Sally?, ?Annie Hall? and a few others that escape me, the plot lines are all the same. Boy and girl meet. Humor. Boy and girl get together. Humor. Boy and girl break up due to main conflict. Genuine love, marked by lack of humor. Boy and girl get back together. Roll credits. Love stories between unconventional, tragic or straight-up bizarre characters become driven by their protagonists. Love between these people must be explored, explained and defended. If humor works its way into the telling of love, all the better. The driving points of these movies becomes, not the hilarious circumstances in which two unsuspecting people fell in love, but about what actually draws two to become one. Notions of commitment and devotion, completion and dependency are probed in a way that romantic comedies of the ?Sleepless in Seattle? variety never bother with. Movies of this letter, much romanticized variety include, ?Leaving Las Vegas?, ?Harold and Maude?, ?Lovers on the Bridge? and, of course, ?Secretary?.
?Secretary?s lovebirds are played by James Spader, twisted love veteran since ?sex lies and videotape? and Maggie Gyllenhall, lovely Hollywood neophyte. Gyllenhall plays Lee Holloway, a twenty-something with the all too common affliction of self mutilation. Before ?action?, Lee had slipped when cutting herself with a kitchen knife. The slice went too deep and parents and doctors alike suspected suicide. When released from psychiatric care, she goes back home and looks for a job. She?s an excellent typist and ?wants to be bored?. Quickly she takes a job as a secretary in a single lawyer?s office. In an absolutely moving scene, it becomes clear that Mr. Grey (James Spader) is a dominant to Lee?s submissive. The first thing he does is command her to stop cutting herself. From this point their sadomasochistic love grows out of control, overwhelming their lives.
?Secretary? is an excellent love story, and an excellent movie. It destroys the taboo of sadomasochism in the light of love. An unbelievable task in retrospect, executed with convincing grace.
Home
Romantic comedies are nearly homogenously trite and boring. With the notable exceptions of ?When Harry Met Sally?, ?Annie Hall? and a few others that escape me, the plot lines are all the same. Boy and girl meet. Humor. Boy and girl get together. Humor. Boy and girl break up due to main conflict. Genuine love, marked by lack of humor. Boy and girl get back together. Roll credits. Love stories between unconventional, tragic or straight-up bizarre characters become driven by their protagonists. Love between these people must be explored, explained and defended. If humor works its way into the telling of love, all the better. The driving points of these movies becomes, not the hilarious circumstances in which two unsuspecting people fell in love, but about what actually draws two to become one. Notions of commitment and devotion, completion and dependency are probed in a way that romantic comedies of the ?Sleepless in Seattle? variety never bother with. Movies of this letter, much romanticized variety include, ?Leaving Las Vegas?, ?Harold and Maude?, ?Lovers on the Bridge? and, of course, ?Secretary?.
?Secretary?s lovebirds are played by James Spader, twisted love veteran since ?sex lies and videotape? and Maggie Gyllenhall, lovely Hollywood neophyte. Gyllenhall plays Lee Holloway, a twenty-something with the all too common affliction of self mutilation. Before ?action?, Lee had slipped when cutting herself with a kitchen knife. The slice went too deep and parents and doctors alike suspected suicide. When released from psychiatric care, she goes back home and looks for a job. She?s an excellent typist and ?wants to be bored?. Quickly she takes a job as a secretary in a single lawyer?s office. In an absolutely moving scene, it becomes clear that Mr. Grey (James Spader) is a dominant to Lee?s submissive. The first thing he does is command her to stop cutting herself. From this point their sadomasochistic love grows out of control, overwhelming their lives.
?Secretary? is an excellent love story, and an excellent movie. It destroys the taboo of sadomasochism in the light of love. An unbelievable task in retrospect, executed with convincing grace.