See? I do like a bit of M/f once in awhile

Really, Secretary should not be at all up my alley. It's about sado-masochism, which I absolutely do not get into; and the "sado" half of the pairing is male, while the "maso" half is female, which could make for an extremely chauvinist picture. And yet....

Well, for starters, the two main characters are played by Maggie Gyllenhaal and James Spader. If you're at all a fan of quirky-great acting, that should grab your attention right there. Then there's the fact that the movie is played at least partly for laughs. Add in an excellent script that actually turns the female sub's story into a journey of empowerment, and you get a great big ding-ding winner for me.

Lee Holloway (I had forgotten that was her name until I started this entry, and now I'm realizing that I must have subconsciously had her in mind while writing A Tenpack of Trixies) begins the movie as a very depressed and damaged person; in fact, she's a cutter. The only way she can find any release from her psychic pain is to literally bleed (or sometimes burn) it out of herself. Then she takes a job with Mr. Grey, a lawyer who has just the opposite problem. The only way he can find any release is by venting his rage and pain on someone else - which leads to his losing a lot of good secretaries and experiencing incredible guilt about his actions. So Lee and Mr. Grey are a match made in BDSM heaven.

Or not quite. Lee quickly discovers that Mr. Grey is the perfect safety valve for her; when she allows him to tie her up and/or spank her, she totally loses the need to inflict pain on herself, and in fact experiences a bliss beyond anything she's ever known before. Mr. Grey, on the other hand, can't get past his guilt, which eventually forces Lee to take matters into her own hands...a bit like a couple of heroine subs in my stories, now that I think about it.

Anyone who knows anything about the various forms of bondage play (MC included) knows that, appearances to the contrary, it's really the sub who is in control. This movie proves that - to Lee as much as to the viewers. That "Assume the position" tag line in the poster above could apply as much to Mr. Grey as to Lee, as she almost forces him to accept his nature the way she accepts her own. Of course the fact that Mr. Grey is ethical enough to have to be forced, and to only want to inflict pain and bondage on a willing partner is a big part of what makes this story appealing. If he were just an arrogant ass, I'd want to see him taken down; but Spader makes him as much a victim of his neuroses as Lee is. They each become the savior for the other, and that's a beautiful thing.