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The Secretary is based on the book by Erin
Cressida Wilson which tells the tale of two thoroughly lost souls, that of the
innocent and self-mutilating Lee (Maggie Gyllenhaal) and the sexual
perverse lawyer E. Edward Grey (James Spader) who suffers from a "lite"
obsessive-compulsive disorder. The story begins with Lee just being released
from a psychiatric institution for her years of self-mutilation and just when
Lee thinks that her life is heading in the right direction, she learns that
her father has returned to alcohol and her former childhood house is far from
serene. Vowing to break her dangerous habits, Lee successfully completes a
secretarial course and vows to get a job in the real world.
Enquiring about a secretarial position in the
classifieds, Lee immediately gets hired by a local lawyer who is far from
normal. She soon begins to be chastised by her employer that leads the two
into bizarre sexual acts for Lee's purposely incompetence as a secretary. For
each mistake Lee makes, E. Edward Grey sexually punishes his secretary for her
forced errors. Although E. Edward Grey, played by James Spader seems a little
forced and contrived, Maggie Gyllenhaal is perfectly cast as the innocent
secretary who eventually blossoms into a butterfly by the end of the movie.
The video quality of the Secretary is
exceptional and is extremely clear and sharp with no errors found whatsoever
during the viewing of this disc. The director makes brilliant use of the
colours and the disc is presented in 16x9 widescreen. One could wonder if this
movie could be turned into a successful Broadway play because the majority of
the movie is set inside an office.
The audio quality of the disc features Dolby
Digital 5.1 and unfortunately this powerful standard isn't used to its
capacity during the entire movie. That said, the audio is clear and audible
but unfortunately the soundtrack of the Secretary is a little limp at the best
of times.
The secretary contains the stock standard
extras that include commentary by the Director and Writer, Behind the Scenes
Featurette, and a Photo Gallery. Nothing special and I would of liked to have
seen additional commentary by the two main actors.
The Secretary was a strange movie that had me
quietly laughing at the bizarre anecdotes of the two main characters and if
you are after a light-hearted yet erotic comedy than I would recommend this
film to all movie lovers.
Andrew B
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