**10+**,

This film has been played so well that even a person normally disgusted by SM (yep, that would be me... Not in my POTUS porn profile) begins to understand the relationship and the beauty and intensity of it. In the beginning of the film is a bit of a spoiler, but even though you get a glimpse This doesn't really spoil your own ideas on how and why this relationship develops into a SM one.

**To get the most out of this film I guess you would have to have a blank non understanding view of SM and really REALLY want to understand why people hurt themselves and others are able to hurt and love at the same time.** I guess the most difficult role in such a relationship would be role of the person that has to inflicting pleasure in the form of pain. If not... I would consider it a BAD relationship with a sadist. For anyone who feels agitated by these last words. You are probably just discovered your inner self and realised you are a bad person. Go and change that if possible.

But back to the film...

Most people will still think that these are bad relationships, but most normal relationships aren't that good... The one portrayed here is in my eyes a good one. Both are fulfilling in each other's needs and besides that have a loving relationship. This film has given me the ability to understand the people that have good SM relationships. (not talking about the amount of pain) Let me clarify; I still don't understand any form of bad relationships.

Amazing how a film mostly played in the same setting can be so intense. It's like Dogville and could have been played in 2 almost bare rooms. Dogville: https://trakt.tv/movies/dogville-2003

Dominance and submission at the office (um... no)

RELEASED IN 2002 and directed by Steven Shainberg, "Secretary" is a romantic dramedy about a young woman (Maggie Gyllenhaal) who spent some time at a mental hospital for self-harm (e.g. cutting). She apprehends a job as a secretary to a quirky, arduous lawyer (James Spader) wherein their employer-employee bond turns increasingly sexual in a dominant/submissive way.

This is the first mainline film in America to breach the difficult topic of BDSM, walking the balance beam between being either too amusing or too offensive. For those not in the know, BDSM is an overlap of acronyms: BD stands for Bondage and Discipline; DS for Dominance and Submission; and SM for Sadism and Masochism. I didn’t really know the movie tackled BDSM before viewing it; I thought it was simply a romance-in-the-office type flick with maybe some kinky elements.

The movie is polarizing, unsurprisingly. I read a few reviews by respectable critics and one was fascinated by it, giving it an incredible 10/10 Stars (Why Sure!), while another wrote it off as a film for sick people, granting it 1/10 Stars. Whilst I find the romance-at-the-office element interesting, I could care less about the BDSM angle. Regardless, the first half is amusing enough and Maggie is a winsome treat, but the second half gets a little too deviant and borders on porn.

Yet the movie ends well with a well-intentioned message: This is a story about two people who have an affinity for DS that find each other and their relationship may or may not work (no spoilers). I suppose the movie is trying to get across that pain can be therapeutic as long as it's applied by the right hand with the right intention. Thus two people with an affinity for BDSM can develop a relationship that works, for them. But not me; no thanks.

THE MOVIE RUNS 1 hour 47 minutes and was shot in Los Angeles. WRITERS: Mary Gaitskill (short story) and Erin Cressida Wilson & Shainberg (screenplay).

GRADE: C-