A timid young woman starts working for a demanding lawyer and finds a new way to deal with her self-harming urges.A timid young woman starts working for a demanding lawyer and finds a new way to deal with her self-harming urges.A timid young woman starts working for a demanding lawyer and finds a new way to deal with her self-harming urges.
- Awards
- 15 wins & 26 nominations total
- Jonathan
- (as Oz Perkins)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaIn a 2018 interview Maggie Gyllenhaal called her role in Secretary "the first time that I was given a role where I could express something about myself," describing taking the role of Lee as an opportunity to "explore something that's on the edge of what I know about myself but with the protection of fiction." She also gave director Steven Shainberg a lot of credit for his collaborative approach, describing him as "interested in me as an artist, was interested in what I was offering, and the way that shifted the story, as opposed to whatever he had imagined before I got there."
- GoofsAll the cars in the film have Florida license plates on the front of the car. Florida only has back plates.
- Quotes
[Lee talks about Mr. Grey and how in love she is with him]
Lee: [narrating] In one way or another, I've always suffered. I didn't know why, exactly. But I do know that I'm not so scared of suffering now. I feel more than I've ever felt, and I've found someone to feel with, to play with, to love, in a way that feels right for me. I hope he knows that I can see that he suffers, too. And that I want to love him.
- Crazy creditsThe legal disclaimer has typing errors:
- "fictitious" is misspelled "ficticious"
- "unintentional" is misspelled "unitentional"
- unauthorized use of the film is warned as resulting in "civil liberty" instead of "civil liability"
- ConnectionsFeatured in Late Show with David Letterman: Episode #10.42 (2002)
- SoundtracksWhatchamacallit
Performed by Juan García Esquivel (as Esquivel)
Written by Juan García Esquivel (as Juan Garcia Esquivel)
Courtesy of The RCA Records Label, a unit of BMG Entertainment
Under license from BMG Special Products
Maggie Gyllenhaal is outstanding in a potential minefield of a role - she handles it with dignity and even provides some effective dark humour.
The story here is that her character, Lee, applies for a job as a secretary for the firm owned by James Spader's brilliant Mr Grey. However, Lee has a history of self-harm and masochism and Grey has a dominance complex along with a very sadistic streak. Combine these 2 in theory and you have 2 very happy people. But this is no ordinary love story...
Spader, as stated, is brilliant. He brings an icy steel to the troubled Grey, but also provides a touch of black humour which comes at some great moments to 'release the tension'.
For the themes supplied here you'd probably expect a lot of raunchiness - well there are sexual moments, of course, but there is nothing gratuitous, which is in itself an achievement and well handled.
Overall it's quirky, off-beat, and a little bit different.
Worth a view.
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- La secretaria
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $4,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $4,059,680
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $182,306
- Sep 22, 2002
- Gross worldwide
- $9,304,609