SECRETARY

US, 2002, 111 minutes, Colour.
James Spader, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jeremy Davies, Patrick Bauchau, Stephen Mc Hattie, Amy Locane, Lesley Ann Warren.
Directed by Steven Shainberg.

It is fair to call this unusual film a sex comedy, but that would not be doing it justice. It opens with a young secretary doing the usual chores in an office while balancing a yoke on her shoulders. And that's the clue. In many ways, she is quite ordinary, but she allows herself to be imposed upon, even humiliated, by her boss - and finds that she likes it, that she is sexually energised, masochistically energised by his sadistic behaviour. She has spent some time in an institution, relying on her small box of treasures for her security. Her father who leaves home (Stephen McHattie), her devoted mother (Lesley Ann Warren) and her school friend who proposes to her (Jeremy Davies) all want to help. But, it is only in her interactions with her boss that she is able to regain some kind of self-possession, even some maturity.

We are invited to a sometimes prurient look at this spanking and humiliating behaviour. But the film is more a portrait of a young woman with problems, trying to face them, learning about herself and trying to cope, especially at the end in a hunger-strike protest against her boss (with a media entourage enabling the public to be prurient as well). Maggie Gyllenhaal brings the character of the secretary and her skewed psychology to vivid life on the screen and she is well served by James Spader (drawing on his performances in such films as Sex, Lies and Videotape, White Palace) as the boss.

This is one of those films where the audience leaves the theatre somewhat unsure about what they have just seen, what it means in terms of personality problems and development, in terms of the sexual politics of the workplace and what it means in terms of aberrant sexual behaviour.

1. Popularity of the film? Impact? A comedy about sexuality, about sadomasochism? Mental and emotional disturbance? Healing?

2. The locations: the institution, homes, offices - and confined action, the film as virtually a two-hander?

3. The title, focus, Lee and her ambitions, success? The role of secretary, generally female, the boss, generally male? The film dramatising this situation and the power struggles, interactions?

4. The prologue, Lee and her balancing all the functions in the office with the pole on her shoulders? Her poise, success? The transition to six months earlier?

5. Her character, in the institution, her mental instability, her hurting herself, her kit in order to inflict pain, cuts? The discussions with the doctor, her being considered ready to leave? Her relationship with her mother, her mother coming to get her? Going home for her sister's wedding? Her parents, her mother and her ambitions, her father drinking? Going to her room, cherishing her box and its content? The wedding, her feeling out of place? The pressure on her to get a job, searching for the possibilities in the paper? The secretary, her going to see Edward, the interview, the surprise of her getting the job, her mother's exhilaration? Her beginning the work, being submissive, aiming to please? Yet her still hurting herself, her legs and bruises?

6. Edward and his not giving any information, the nature of the work, the secretary leaving, his conduct of the interview? The work, his continued demands on her, pressures, corrections, humiliations? Making her put her arms on the desk, his spanking her?

7. Her initial response to the spanking, not as a punishment, but as sadomasochistic pleasure? The combination? The visualising of the effect on both Edward and on Lee? It eventually becoming too much for her? Edward having the power and wanting to retain it, Lee having to leave?

8. Her mother, her continued support, waiting in the parking lot? Her father, his drinking, his leaving home, the phone call and her leaving the phone dangling, her return? His healing himself and his coming home again?

9. The previous secretary, her role, impact? The paralegal and her visits, her relevance to the plot?

10. Lee, the growing sexual consciousness, the masturbation scene, the change in her, her throwing away her box into the river? No longer the need to hurt herself?

11. Peter, the memories of school, the visits, his character, parents, relating to Lee, wanting to marry her, the brief sexual encounter, her reaction? His proposal, her acceptance? Her being fitted for the dress, the preparations? Her running out on Peter? Going to Edward?

12. Going to his office, the hunger strike, chaining herself to the desk, waiting? Edward remaining at home, in the garden?

13. The media, her becoming a celebrity? All the people watching, the interviews, their opinions, the doctor and his explanations?

14. Edward's relenting, his decision to marry her, their turning their relationship to a rather ordinary and normal life? Possibilities of better functioning? The sadomasochistic tendencies? The fantasy or reality at the end, straightforward, ironic, or both?