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Here’s my review of Secretary from 2002.
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Short filmTranscript
00:12Hey guys, how's it going? It's me, Beau, back here on the Film Scene Investigation channel.
00:19Thank you so much for checking out this video. It's a new week, which means it's a new review,
00:26and today I'll be taking a closer look at the 2002 erotic drama, Secretary.
00:34So this is a movie that I've known about for many years. It's been on my watch list for a
00:42while now,
00:43and before watching it, I decided to go online and just read some reviews, kind of get an idea of
00:50what it's about.
00:50And interestingly, the movie kept being referred to as a comedy, but having now seen the movie,
01:01I don't know if that was the intention of the filmmakers to make a comedy, but just seeing the dark
01:09nature of everything
01:10and how the story unfolded, I can assure you, this was not a comedy.
01:17Before we get into the review, guys, if you haven't already, please do consider subscribing to the channel.
01:25All the support is greatly appreciated.
01:28So, Secretary, from 2002, was a movie directed by the filmmaker Steven Schoenberg,
01:37and was based on the novel of the same name by the author Mary Gateskill.
01:43Now, this was a small production, costing around about four, four and a half million dollars,
01:49and was subsequently not a huge box office success, but the film did premiere at the Sundance Film Festival
01:57and was heavily praised by the critics.
02:01As for the story, it centred around the lead character, Lee Holloway, who was played by actress Maggie Gyllenhaal.
02:09She was a young woman who had literally just come out of a mental institution after having a mental breakdown.
02:20She rejoined her family, and initially, you know, she was happy to be back, you know, with her loved ones,
02:28but it didn't take long for problems to arise.
02:33Her dad, who was played by actor Stephen McHattie, well, he basically was a drunk, an alcoholic,
02:42who generally was just not a nice guy to be around.
02:46I mean, at one point, we even saw the dad, you know, hitting the mother, and, yeah, you know, just,
02:53you know,
02:53these domestic arguments.
02:54It's certainly not the ideal situation to be in when you're literally recovering from, you know, a mental illness.
03:05You had to kind of feel a bit sad for Lee, seeing that she was a girl who was very
03:12vulnerable, you know, very fragile,
03:15and just wanted to, you know, get back to some sort of normality, you know, a normal family life.
03:22Yet, when she returned, she has all this, you know, domestic chaos all around her.
03:29Anyways, Lee saw all of this play out in front of her, and it brought back some bad memories.
03:35It almost triggered those mental issues that she was trying to deal with, and, well,
03:44she ended up going back to her old ways, reverting to self-harm.
03:49Now, this was something that she didn't want to do.
03:53I mean, Lee knew that self-harm and, you know, self-sabotage, you know, it's only hurting herself.
04:01But it literally was a coping mechanism for her to, well, deal with the depression that she was feeling.
04:10During this time, Lee was encouraged to seek out new opportunities, you know, maybe a job or something like that,
04:18something to occupy her time and to make a positive change in her life.
04:25Lee decided to take up a secretary course where she passed with flying colors
04:31and subsequently decided to apply for a job at a local law firm.
04:37Of course, Lee was nervous.
04:41You know, she, it was a big step for her, you know, there couldn't be no denying that.
04:45But she wanted to make a change and, well, this was the opportunity that she needed.
04:53So, Lee traveled directly to the local law firm's office to hand in a CV in person.
05:00And this is where she met her future boss, E. Edward Gray, played by actor James Spader.
05:08A quietly intense man who clearly had his own personal baggage that he was dealing with.
05:18I mean, just from the way the character was introduced and just the way he acted or reacted to Lee
05:27coming into his office.
05:29He was like an oddball, you know.
05:31You could clearly see that there was a lot of stuff going on in his head.
05:35Anyways, Lee handed in her CV and given she had such a high pass mark, Gray decided to recruit her,
05:44even though he told her that she was overqualified.
05:48She began working and doing all of the standard mundane jobs that you would expect a secretary to do.
05:56Booking appointments, taking calls, filing reports, all that boring stuff.
06:02But, as I said, it was an outlet, a new opportunity for Lee.
06:09And, well, she needed this change in her life.
06:13It was quite obvious that when Lee started working, she was happy.
06:19She liked this new routine.
06:20But when it came to her boss, Edward Gray, he decided to put pressure on her, not make it easy.
06:29Checking up on all of her work, checking her grammar, and just generally being a pain.
06:37Gray was not a nice guy to be around.
06:40I mean, personally for me, I probably would have walked out of that job pretty quickly.
06:44But, yeah, with Lee, you know, this was her, you know, opportunity that she wanted.
06:51And, well, for her, she was like a deer in the headlights, you know.
06:58She couldn't really say no or argue.
07:01You know, she just wanted to keep the peace.
07:03So she just nodded along and agreed to work harder.
07:07I mean, it was kind of like mind games.
07:11You know, at first she gave him a CV, and according to her boss, she was overqualified.
07:16And then suddenly she gets into the job, and she's not good enough.
07:22Yeah, I mean, E. Edward Gray, he was clearly playing with Lee's emotions.
07:29And when these typing errors continued, well, this all led to the boss bringing Lee into his office for an
07:40explanation.
07:41He wanted to know why her work was so poor and why it wasn't up to standard, and eventually started
07:48to spank her.
07:50Now, this was where the story really kind of, I don't know, I guess got interesting in a sense, because
07:58there was this guy who was physically abusing his employee because, what, her work wasn't good enough?
08:07It was like Gray was teaching his employee a lesson, you know, of what to do and not what to
08:15do, and, you know, using physical force in this very seedy, sexual manner.
08:21Gray obviously got some sort of sick satisfaction, you know, with his domineering ways.
08:29And as for Lee, she was kind of stunned by her boss's actions.
08:34But what was interesting was, whereas most people in that situation would realize that that's a form of sexual assault,
08:44Lee, on the other hand, seemed to quite like this dominant behavior from her boss.
08:51These things continued and, well, what started out as a spanking session soon turned into a full-on BDSM sexual
09:04force.
09:04Play that was all carried out in office hours.
09:08I mean, aren't these guys supposed to be working?
09:11I mean, I don't know, like, one minute Lee's there, kind of wide-eyed, bushy-tailed, and kind of vulnerable,
09:19you know, don't know what to expect.
09:21And then, soon enough, you know, she's on all fours, you know, on a desk, you have a carrot in
09:27her mouth.
09:27I mean, wow.
09:30I guess in some ways you could describe what was happening to Lee as a, I don't know, a sexual
09:38awakening of sorts.
09:39And all of this kind of actually improved her mental health.
09:47It was like Grey had unlocked these submissive desires that Lee had been carrying for all this time, as suddenly
09:58she had been liberated.
10:00And with all of this playing out, very quickly, Lee started to have these feelings for her boss, almost like
10:10she was falling in love with him.
10:13I mean, for her, her life had never been so good.
10:17You know, she had all that history, all that baggage, you know, very, you know, trials and tribulations, all that
10:24issues of her mental health.
10:26And now suddenly she had a new job, she had a new man in her life, even though he wasn't
10:31directly in love with her.
10:34But you see, Lee's subservient behavior only ended up triggering Grey's internal issues that he had, that he was carrying
10:44himself.
10:45As I said earlier, E. Edward Grey was a complex man.
10:50He was a guy who, I guess, was sexually repressed, you know, in his own way.
10:57And when Lee came into his life, it wasn't exactly an ideal situation for him.
11:04So let's now talk about the darkest aspects of the film that I noticed.
11:12And that was that the filmmakers tried to gloss over the fact that Lee was a vulnerable young woman who
11:24was being taken advantage of.
11:26I mean, the power dynamics were clear from the very start as soon as Lee met her boss, E. Edward
11:34Grey.
11:34I mean, she was vulnerable, she was mentally fragile, and there was her boss, you know, all domineering and, you
11:45know, telling her what and what not to do.
11:48And so their sordid love affair began.
11:53And, you know, it is what it is.
11:57But I think we should all remember here that Lee Holloway was a mentally unstable woman.
12:04Yes, she had overcome a lot, but she was still in recovery.
12:10And so she was vulnerable.
12:12And E. Edward Grey, her boss, knew that and still took advantage.
12:17He was subconsciously manipulating her, yet because she wasn't thinking straight, Lee thought in some way she was in control.
12:30Ultimately, Edward Grey was a scummy individual who, in other words, he was a sexual deviant who, you know, took
12:40advantage where and when he could.
12:42But what we should also remind ourselves and not forget is that E. Edward Grey was a top lawyer.
12:52He was an attorney.
12:53So he wasn't some random guy off the street.
12:57No, no, no.
12:58This was a man with influence, a man with power.
13:03And he used that power for his own gains.
13:06You know, there's no giving this guy the benefit of the doubt.
13:10I mean, he knew exactly what he was doing.
13:12He was strategic.
13:15And, well, I mean, let's face it, he should have known better to drag this poor innocent woman into his
13:22own sexual depravity.
13:25Anyways, these two got together and we saw how it unfolded.
13:29But what I found really eerie was how the filmmakers tried to betray Lee's sexual encounters as if they were
13:39liberating.
13:40This was some sort of romance, you know, playing out before our very eyes.
13:46But I can assure you, it wasn't.
13:49I mean, you can kind of dress it up any way you want.
13:51But in reality, this was a mentally fragile woman who was being psychologically coerced by her boss to be his
14:01sex object.
14:03But what made it even worse was the fact that Lee was mentally unstable.
14:10So she was not in the right mind to fully consent to all the things that her boss wanted her
14:17to do.
14:17And taking all of that into account, you know, and looking at it from, you know, that perspective, this 2002
14:25drama, it's a shady piece of cinema.
14:30Because ultimately, it borders on propaganda, where the filmmakers have purposely misrepresented the situation to the audience.
14:40I can totally see how women may watch this film and like it for its kinky perspective.
14:48But if we're going to apply logic and common sense here, E. Edward Grey was a predator.
14:55Lee Holloway was a sexually abused victim.
15:02And this was not a love story by any stretch of the imagination.
15:06Moving on from that, there were also themes of self-harm that the film explored.
15:15With Lee having this box of sharp instruments and occasionally using them to hurt herself.
15:24There wasn't any real kind of graphic imagery of the self-harm.
15:30It was kind of heavily alluded to.
15:32But still, it was there.
15:35It happened.
15:36It does happen to, you know, thousands and thousands of people who suffer from mental health.
15:43And yeah, it's a shame.
15:46But at least in that sense, it wasn't glossed over.
15:50When it comes to the performances, I thought Maggie Gyllenhaal did a wonderful job playing Lee Holloway, this young woman
15:59who was taken in by her boss.
16:03Her character really went on a journey, you know, starting out as this vulnerable, kind of shy, timid young woman
16:12to, towards the end of the film,
16:15becoming a very sexually provocative woman, you know, delving into all these very extreme BDSM foreplay situations.
16:26I mean, there's no denying that Maggie Gyllenhaal carried this movie.
16:30And, you know, if it wasn't for her, I don't think it would have been as interesting.
16:35So, you know, credit where credit's due.
16:38And I'll be honest and say here that I've never really been a fan of Maggie Gyllenhaal.
16:45Now, I can say that, yes, she's competent, she's solid.
16:51But have I really seen any kind of amazing performances from her?
16:57Not really.
16:58Now, listen, I've not seen a whole filmography, so, you know, take it for what it is.
17:03But from the films I have seen her in, yeah, she's been okay, but nothing special.
17:10But with Sekutary, this is absolutely the best performance I've seen her deliver.
17:16And so looking back and seeing how the actress was praised all those years ago during the time of its
17:22release, hey, it totally makes sense.
17:25As for her counterpart, James Spader, I thought he was perfectly cast to play the manipulative lawyer E. Edward Grey,
17:35whose controlling behaviour really was there to mask his own inner turmoil.
17:44While he was approachable on the outside, well, underneath,
17:50if he was a twisted man with these weird sexual fantasies and, yeah, I mean, he really liked mistreating others.
18:02For many years, James Spader has played many sexually repressed characters, you know, throughout his career.
18:10And with The Secretary, that was no different.
18:13Now, I've seen many of James Spader's films in the past.
18:18I've even reviewed a few on this channel.
18:21So going into this film, I expected him to deliver, you know, a good performance.
18:27And he certainly did that.
18:30You know, with a story like this, it's so crucial to make sure that the cast have great chemistry,
18:39since the story really relies on them.
18:43And when it came to Maggie Gyllenhaal and James Spader, they worked perfectly together.
18:49You know, it was great casting.
18:51So credit to the casting agent for getting that right.
18:55If the chemistry had not have been there between the two, well, it just would not have worked.
19:02And I think that would have been pretty clear from the get-go before the film was even released.
19:07I mean, you know, from rehearsals and all that kind of stuff, you know, you know if it's going to
19:12work or not.
19:13And, yeah, with these two, it worked.
19:17So, dislikes for Secretary from 2002.
19:22When it comes to dislikes, there wasn't really anything that really stuck out to me as a major negative.
19:28But I can't say I was too fond of the scene where we saw Lee running back to the office
19:37in her wedding dress.
19:39So, in terms of the context, Lee had been fired by her boss.
19:44She then decided to get married to this on-off boyfriend that she had.
19:49But when it came to the actual wedding day, she realized that she couldn't go through with it and decided
19:55to run back to the office and declare her love to her boss.
20:00Now, in terms of the storytelling, no issue with that.
20:04Yeah, I thought, I kind of expect that to happen, you know, and for there to be this kind of
20:10declaration of love.
20:11So, yeah, that's not an issue, but it was the execution, specifically, that I had a problem with.
20:19Seeing Lee run across this field in her wedding dress while this acoustic little jingle played out, tonally, it was
20:30just off.
20:30I mean, it was something that you would see in a romantic comedy.
20:37And, yeah, I mean, it just didn't click right with me.
20:41It just felt really off.
20:43Because, by all means, this was not a romantic comedy.
20:46I mean, you know, this isn't 10 things I hate about you or, you know, whatever else you can think
20:53of.
20:54I mean, this was very dark and it just seemed a bit strange to, towards the end of the film,
21:02you know, the filmmakers try and lighten the mood.
21:06I mean, as I said, it wasn't a big thing, but just going back to when I was watching the
21:12film for the first time and that scene came up,
21:16it just seemed really kind of strange.
21:19I was like, oh, my God, I'm hoping this isn't going to get really kind of soppy right now.
21:24And luckily it didn't.
21:25But, yeah, it was a little strange for me.
21:28I also felt that the film, the longer it went on, did start to drag.
21:34Like, at the beginning, I thought the film overall had a good pace.
21:41You know, we were kind of getting introduced to Lee and then her family and then she quickly applied for
21:47this job.
21:48We met E. Edward Gray and, you know, so forth and so on.
21:53But, yeah, towards the end, I did start to kind of question where this story was going.
22:02The pace just kind of slowed and, you know, listen, I appreciate this was adapted from a book.
22:09So, of course, the filmmakers are trying to hit every beat and, you know, trying to cram it all in.
22:16But I don't know, maybe a more condensed screenplay would have been beneficial overall to the viewing experience.
22:26And so ratings for Secretary from 2002.
22:32Taking everything into account, I'm going to be rating this movie a 3.9 out of 10.
22:40Secretary from 2002 was an interesting story about a woman who got entangled with her boss, a man who was,
22:52you know, a sexual predator.
22:54Now, the filmmakers tried to portray this as some sort of quirky love story and, you know, they tried to
23:05go against the typical conventions of a romantic comedy.
23:11I mean, ultimately, guys, behind all of that, this was a dominant, submissive relationship that was being presented as empowering
23:23rather than exploitative.
23:26I can only remind myself that this movie was released back in a time when mental health wasn't as prevalent
23:37in the public eye as it is now.
23:40And also, people like Harvey Weinstein were still very much in power.
23:47Would a movie like this be made now?
23:51Yes, I do think so.
23:53But I just think, you know, with the whole Me Too movement and all that kind of thing and, you
24:01know, women's rights and all this kind of stuff,
24:03I just don't see how this story could be depicted now, really, in the current climate that we live in.
24:11Ultimately, this is a story about a young woman who gets taken advantage of, yet because she's not fully there,
24:24like mentally,
24:26she the whole time thinks that she's the one manipulating her boss, which is not the case.
24:33So, yeah, just a kind of a strange film, to say the least.
24:38If you've seen The Secretary, then please let me know your thoughts and memories in the comment section below.
24:46For all those out there who have not seen it, I would give this a minor recommendation.
24:54It's not a bad film, and I think once you know and see what's going on, you kind of pick
25:00apart the subversion, that's quite interesting.
25:03But, ultimately, this wasn't a film that really dealt with visuals and, yeah, the score was okay, but it wasn't
25:13anything really that interesting.
25:15So, I don't know.
25:16Would I watch this movie again?
25:19Probably not.
25:21And, well, that's all from me today, guys.
25:24I do hope you've enjoyed this review of Secretary from 2002.
25:29I'll be back, of course, next week with another film review.
25:34If you haven't already, guys, please do consider subscribing to the channel.
25:38It really means a lot.
25:39And, of course, guys, take care.
25:45I'll be back, of course, next week with another film review.
25:46I'll be back, of course, next week with another film review.
25:47I'll be back, of course, next week with another film review.
25:52I'll be back, of course, next week with another film review.
25:56I'll be back, of course, next week with another film review.
25:59I'll be back, of course, next week with another film review.
25:59I'll be back, of course, next week with another film review.
26:01I'll be back, of course, next week with another film review.
26:02I'll be back, of course, next week with another film review.
26:02I'll be back, of course, next week with another film review.
26:03Amen.
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