Secretary (2002)
directed by Steven Shainberg
Since the book I am reading now has more than 700 pages and my reading time is limited and I felt like writing something here, I thought I’d try to write about one of my favorite movies.
Secretary is a story about an unconventional love between Lee Holloway (Maggie Gyllenhaal) and her boss, E. Edward Grey (James Spader). After being released from a mental institution, Lee gets back to her dysfunctional family and starts trying to have a normal life. After a difficult beginning caused by her alcoholic father, she manages to get a job as a secretary at Mr Grey’s law firm. At first, her lack of experience and social awkwardness seems to bother Mr Grey, but after a while we realize that he is attracted by her submissive behavior.
We witness the start of a relationship between the two characters. Many would describe it as weird or way out there, but who are we to decide what’s weird and what’s not. People act the best way they can at any given moment. I think I wrote about “normal” before, but even if I didn’t, I don’t really feel like blabbering about some things most people wouldn’t care about. So, back to our story. I really like a phrase used to describe the synopsis on the movie’s official site :
The tender beauty of two people coming slowly together in a mutually quirky and unconventional harmony is captured perfectly.
I’m not going to try to put that in any different way.
After a while, Lee gets fired because of Edward’s shame in what he was feeling and doing. Pressured by her family and boyfriend she accepts the latter’s marriage proposal. But, just before the wedding, she runs away to Mr Grey’s office and declares her love to him by sitting on his desk chair for three days without moving. That’s quite a love declaration, right?
He finally comes after her and they live happily ever after. The End 
Maybe you are wondering why I like this movie so much. Well, first of all I like the story, the unconventional love between those two people and how they ended up together no matter what society or close ones thought about that. But then again it’s a movie and most of them have happy endings. I also liked the atmosphere and the way Lee narrated most of the story. There are a few comic moments I enjoyed too (like the one with the worm ). And I really liked how Maggie Gyllenhaal played Lee’s role. I don’t think her story would have impressed me so much if it would have been played by someone else. The moment when she gets out of the institution and pulls up her socks is literally stuck in my mind… for some reason.
To end this in a nice way, another quote from the movie’s official site :
Secretary is a powerful and very unique love story, its bold, unflinching humor and strange yet seductive eroticism help explore the notion that love doesn’t always occur the way we might expect.
My favorite quotes:
In one way or another I’ve always suffered. I didn’t know why exactly. But I do know that I’m not so scared of suffering now. I feel more than I’ve ever felt and I’ve found someone to feel with. To play with. To love in a way that feels right for me. I hope he knows that I can see that he suffers too. And that I want to love him.
Each cut, each scar, each burn, a different mood or time. I told him what the first one was, told him where the second one came from. I remembered them all. And for the first time in my life I felt beautiful. Finally part of the earth. I touched the soil and he loved me back.
