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The film treats the subject of S&M with a kind of confused interest worthy of Madonna.
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| (Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine) |
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It seems to be a case of everyone thinking that the subject matter is so very interesting and unusual that it's all the film needs. To some degree, that's true, but that mentality threatens to turn the into My Big Fat Spanking Wedding.
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| (Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress ) |
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The Graduate by way of humiliation and water sports.
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| (Walter Chaw, Film Freak Central) |
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Before it takes a sudden turn and devolves into a bizarre sort of romantic comedy, Steven Shainberg's adaptation of Mary Gaitskill's harrowing short story... is a brilliantly played, deeply unsettling experience.
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| (Ken Fox, TV Guide's Movie Guide) |
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The cast comes through even when the movie doesn't.
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| (Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution) |
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A fairy tale romance wrapped within the fantasia of sadomasochistic games, Steven Shainberg's Secretary takes devious routes only to arrive at an old-fashioned finale.
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| (Jeremiah Kipp, Matinee Magazine) |
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An edgy, cleverly written indie that simply derails shortly before the final stretch.
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| (Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News) |
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There’s a point when the movie falls apart, and, ironically, that’s at the climax of Lee and Grey’s relationship. It’s almost as if the writer could no longer maintain the stunning tension Spader and Gyllenhaal sustain so effectively through most of the film. Secretary builds to the climax extraordinarily well, but it reaches the peak too early. This is the last film on the planet that I expected to evolve into a conventional love story, but sure enough… By this point, however, it’s too late for the movie to crash and burn, because it has already created an insuperable relationship between the audience and its characters. The film loses the battle for the third act, but it easily wins the overall war.
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| (Blake French , filmcritic.com) |
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