Secretary

3.5/5 stars

This is a different sort of love story. I mainly watched this for James Spader, but it was actually a pretty good movie. Lee Holloway (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is a masochist who cuts herself when life gets painful. She becomes E. Edward Grey’s (Spader) secretary. Their relationship begins to turn into that of a top/bottom (read: domination). As with any love story, there are complications. Spader and Gyllenhall both give excellent performances, and the topic of domination is treated with complete respect. (However, many of the plot summaries I’ve seen are simply calling Grey a “demanding lover” or an “angry lawyer” — these reviewers don’t understand domination at all.)