Secretary

Earlier this summer, before I found myself with employment, I watched a movie called Secretary. When you first read over the summary of the movie, you find yourself caught off guard... or rather, in an argument with yourself:

Do you watch a movie about a woman who begins a Submissive relationships with her boss, just from curiosity, or the actors in it? Or do you pretend that you are a normal person with a normal sex life, and don't dare to entertain the idea of anything otherwise anywhere else in the world?

Frankly, the movie is genius, hilarious, awkward of course... but just plain great.

I first watched it because I was going through a brief James Spader period. That's the guy from Stargate and Crash... the old crash, not the new one.

He plays a lawyer who obviously enjoys bossing people around a little too much. She plays a submissive girl with self-harm issues. 

The scene where their relationship officially breaches professional boundaries is certainly an interesting one, not to say that the rest of the scenes aren't.

In this scene, She makes a typo. Up to this point, he's been fighting back the urge to bring her into his world of... well, a world she knows nothing of, and he knows this. He's had some bad experiences in the past, and isn't sure it will be good for her. But after catching her hurting herself, and finally becoming upset with her little ticks, he brings her into his office to "punish her" over the typo.

He instructs her to bend over the desk, elbows on the tables, so that her face is directly above the paper, and she is told to read it out loud. After spending a moment confused, she begins to read the letter. Half way through the first sentence, he slaps her ass. Hard.

Awkward giggling comes out of me at this scene. I would never watch this movie with my family. But it's a great movie simply because of its layers.

You see, when he first begins this relationship with her in his office over the typo, not only does he touch her in an outwardly sexual manner, clearly defining their relationship in a new manner, but he also touches her hand. The moments of silence afterwards have their own story.

In an obvious manner, the movie is different, funny, and easy to dismiss unless you look into those other layers and the invisible boundaries between them, and their relevance to the real world of relationships.

I could say a lot about this movie, make my own guesses on what it's about. The exchange of power between two lovers (Is he powerful for being the abusive one, or is she powerful for managing to bring him back into a relationship he's trying to run away from?), or it can be about the unique nature of attraction, what brings two people together will not bring two other people together, and complexities like that...

human nature?

All I can really do is suggest watching it yourself. It's a great movie...

but don't watch it with your mom.