The plot synopsis is that eager-to-please secretary Lee Holloway (Gyllenhaal) and her obsessive and demanding boss, E. Edward Grey (Spader), slide from a professional association into a dominant/submissive relationship. What made it hot for me is that, unlike movies that distort kink into something I don't recognize, Secretary gets a lot of things right. Edward does several things that mirror my real-life D/s relationship choices.
Example number one: Edward demands perfection from Lee and, yeah, he can be a hardass about it. But Edward is a good dominant--he wants to improve Lee, not make her less than she is. And he gets results. As instructed, Lee drops annoying tics, polishes her appearance, and tells her overprotective mother to back off. Under his direction, she even overcomes her habit of self-mutilation as stress-management.
Example two: Edward disciplines and drives himself just as relentlessly as he does Lee. That's essential in a successful D/s relationship. You cannot expect your submissives to live up to any standard that you don't measure up to. In fact, you have to be better than they are, or else why the hell should they submit to you?
For most of their relationship, Edward does not fuck Lee, in spite of the attraction between them. Smart choice, Edward--I don't have sex with my personal submissives, either. It muddies the relationship and skews the power differential. A permanent undercurrent of sexual tension keeps people on their toes.
I'm not holding Secretary out as a shining example of what D/s should be. Both Edward and Lee have flaws and make mistakes. But what a pleasure to see a mainstream film about kink that doesn't involve anyone being zipped into a body bag. Now I'm just waiting for a movie of this quality with a female dominant character. Mr. Shainberg, are you listening?
