SECRETARY (2002)

Definitely erotic! The spanking scene and the masturbation scenes (especially the one with the paralegal in the next stall with tears in her eyes) were obvious arousers…but there was also much more to feel. Maggie Gyllenhaal was really good in her change in posture, in all senses of the word. She slouched through the first scenes. Her clothes, her voice, her walk, her total demeanor were all as out of rhythm as her dancing at the wedding. Watching her change was pretty interesting…But for me, James Spader was the person to watch. He often held his head at an angle like a dog who is lost, his hands were really expressive, and his facial expressions made him seem lost and dazed. At one point he says to her, "You’re closed up tight—like a wall." He is, in fact, describing himself. These two make a nice match.

There were other things that were sensual for me. The orchids, of course, but I also liked several of the camera shots…the slow-motion of the red pens into the trash can, shots that often looked like a fun-house mirror, and her final look straight into the camera.

Two scenes that summed up the change from repressed emotion to finally opening up were the bathtub scenes. In the first, Maggie G. (I can’t remember the character’s name) was in murky bathwater and her legs and arms seemed separated from the rest of her…totally disembodied. In the second bathtub scene, he is giving her a bath and his facial expressions give her the real bath. One other thing that made me laugh and feel sad at the same time, and I don’t know why, was the permanent "secretary wanted" sign with the red and white lights ready to be turned on at a moment’s notice.

I copied two quotes that I think represent the strong feelings generated by this movie. From her…"…an intimate tendril creeping from his dark places nursing on the feeling that he’d discovered something about me." From him…"Is it that sometimes the pain inside has to come to the surface and when you see evidence of the pain you know you are really here, and when you watch the wound heal, it’s comforting?"