‘Secretary’: the complex legacy of an erotic classic
In 2015, a film adaptation of the novel Fifty Shades of Grey was released to instant box-office success and critical derision. It harnessed a sanitised approach to eroticism, featuring unlikeable characters and a BDSM dynamic that, despite its coldness, thrilled many viewers and resulted in two equally poor sequels.
Yet, 13 years earlier, an adaptation of Mary Gaitskill’s short story Secretary hit theatres, providing a much more impressive tale of sexually charged power dynamics between a career-driven man and a woman perceived as younger, quieter, and more submissive – also featuring a man named Mr Grey. While Fifty Shades centres around a frustrating protagonist, the mousy and awkward Anastasia, played with stiffness by Dakota Johnson, Secretary offers up Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Lee, an incredibly fascinating and fleshed-out character.
Since Secretary was released over 20 years ago, its influence on modern erotic movies is certainly apparent from the name Fifty Shades of Grey alone. However, the latter fails to provide a meaningful story about the fine line between pleasure and pain, what it means to submit to someone else, and whether these kinds of relationships can be truly ethical and sustainable. With Secretary, not only is the movie full of truly erotic moments that are teased as the story progresses (many of which rely on more than just nudity), but it also asks us to consider the limits of eroticism, drawing us into Lee and Mr Grey’s world as voyeurs.
Lee is a mentally unstable young woman who wants nothing more than to be told what to do and given mundane tasks that can distract her from her complex inner world. She has a history of self-harm – something she has been hospitalised for – and struggles to connect with those around her, even her family. When she gets a job working for E Edward Grey, Lee immediately strikes him as an unusual kind of woman, one who is hardly prepared for her interview.
Of course, this lures him in, and as she makes mistakes that require his punishment, the pair slowly revel in a joint sense of pleasure. He likes the thrill of telling someone off, humiliating them, and forcing them to confront the most embarrassing aspects of being human, while Lee likes to submit and be punished for her wrongdoings. There is a clear parallel between her desire to be punished and her love of self-harm, deriving a strange sense of satisfaction that many viewers simply won’t be able to wrap their heads around.
The film raises many ethical questions about the pair’s relationship, which soon turns sexual and sadomasochistic, with spanking and crawling on all fours part of Lee’s day-to-day routine. Is Grey abusing his power, even though Lee is enjoying his treatment of her? What does it mean for both of them when Grey begins to feel uneasy about the constant punishment?
Some viewers have labelled the movie misogynistic, seeing Grey’s treatment as abhorrent and representative of the behaviour many powerful men exert for their own benefit. Others see their relationship as an unconventional safe space for Lee to explore her deep-rooted obsession with pain, allowing her to transfer her needs into a more mutually beneficial and less harmful situation.
Lee exists in a world of jouissance, self-harming for a twisted sense of pleasure, which Grey, unlike anyone else she knows, understands. With Grey’s help, Lee begins to regain power over her own body, willingly allowing herself to be told what to do with it. For the first time—because of Grey’s demands—she stops burning and cutting herself.
Lee’s transformation from a shy and unkempt individual to a sexually charged woman who asks Grey to dominate her, their power dynamic flipping back and forth, is not the kind you usually see in Hollywood. It is hard to walk away from the film without debating the ethics of their relationship – should Grey be engaging in this kind of behaviour with someone so mentally unwell? – but still, Secretary continues to find fans who love the truly strange nature of Lee’s character and the unexpectedly humorous performance delivered by James Spader.
In a world oversaturated by pornography and Hollywood’s attempts to capitalise on audiences’ desire to watch stereotypically attractive actors having soulless sex with each other, Secretary offers up two genuinely bizarre characters and an equally odd dynamic – but one that somehow feels all the more real.
