Counting Down the Zeroes: Secretary

This post is part of COUNTING DOWN THE ZEROES, brought to you by IBETOLIS of FILM FOR THE SOUL.

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Secretary

Release: 09.20.02
DVD Release: 04.01.03
Rated R
1 hours, 44 minutes

Full Price




I've never considered myself someone who enjoys romance films, yet here I am writing about yet another romantic flick for Counting Down the Zeroes. Traditional romances have always seemed so predictable: guy meets girl, they fall in love, some stupid misunderstanding occurs and splits them temporarily, but all ends happily ever after and we all leave the theater full of warm fuzzies. Big whoop. What makes Secretary so different?

Lee Holloway (Maggie Gyllenhaal, Donnie Darko) is a young woman returning home from a mental hospital on the eve of her sister's wedding. By the reception, her dysfunctional family has Lee running back to her old bad habits. Lee copes with emotional pain by causing physical pain to herself. In an effort to achieve some normalcy, she takes a typing class and starts dating an old high school friend, Peter (Jeremy Davies, Saving Private Ryan). She even hits the job scene, becoming a secretary for a lawyer, Mr. E. Edward Grey (James Spader, Mannequin). While the job offers Lee escape from her family and its troubles, an infatuation with her boss grows into something far more profound.

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