This is one of my favorites (although I am not a huger Spader fan), the acting is excellent. The story is so well told. There is a lot of unspoken content one must understand to really enjoy this film, and it certainly won't appeal to everyone. I must say that from the promotional art to the story-line - "Fifty Shades of Gray" seems to have ripped off this film (book/screenplay), except that "Fifty Shades" is a very inferior product.

This film explains (without a lot of words) the budding desires of a sexual-submissive, and a self loathing dominant/control freak. While some will find the proclivities offensive others will find it a masterpiece of story-telling with difficult subject matter.

I have to review this after reading other reviews. I thought this movie was very well done. I certainly don't think it will appeal to everyone, but those that it does, it speaks. *spoilers ahead* I don't really think that it's accurate to comment on this as BDSM - just finished reading one review who says that you have to suspend a lot of disbelief about Lee's inexperience and Mr. Grey's involvement with her b/c no Dom would ever involve themselves with someone with no experience. I'm no expert, but I have to disagree. I never got the impression that he considered himself a Dom, and was entering into contracts or agreements with submissives. I thought it was more realistic in the fact that, you know, I think we all have things that are a little weird about us, especially when it comes to sexual quirks, and we don't always understand them, and many of us spend our entire lives fighting them and thinking we're strange or wrong. Not to mention we don't start out as experts. There are going to be experiences that lead us to these discoveries, and it will take time before fully understanding them. So I took this plot as Mr. Grey trying to repress this side of himself, he punished himself for it, and self-loathing was eating him up, but of course he's only human and gives in to the temptation. Lee, obviously, was totally new to it, so it was very clear that on her side it was about discovery. So I didn't suspend any disbelief, this is kind of exactly the way I would imagine that people with these types of tastes discover them. Of course, it's a movie, so I suppose the suspended disbelief might be on the happy ending, but still, in my mind, this was more realistic than a typical movie. Excellent work, from all sides. The sexual tension was very well done, and while at times the scenes were a bit bizarre, it just added to the appeal.

It'd be like lumping 2001 or Blade Runner with Plan 9 From Outer Space (both sci-fi, after all). Proverbial apples to oranges. (Thematically similar, I guess, but only superficially.)

This is a serious character study - sexy, too. 50 shades? Just bad. Not even camp...then again, who knows? Maybe future generations of will watch 50 Shades ironically - today's garbage is tomorrow's camp. (See: Showgirls, Cobra, Mommy Dearest and of course, the aforementioned Plan 9.)

It didn't even occur to me that Fifty Shades would be mentioned in the same breath as Secretary. This ain't a Harlequin Romance, just a great story about love - complicated stuff, love.

Secretary is one of the only (and certainly one of the best) films to take BSDM seriously - all too often it's treated like a joke, not unlike a minstrel show.

Great film, great performances.

This movie opens up a whole new world of possibilities for me!
This girl can suddenly become hot! She is first so nerdy and then morphs into this masochistic creature that seems very familiar to me. I can relate. I thought this was related to fifty shades of gray , but it is better. Somehow this Secretary movie is more deep and gets into the why of wanting pain even though it's a comedy. It is weird in that it has this goofy music and hardly any dialogue. Not what I expected but great. Also, there is this playful controlling torture and how she submits to the torture willingly. What a strong girl.
The man, Spader, is great because he had this tension that he was trying to control. I find him more hard to understand. The inner struggle he was fighting against was ...

It's an okay movie. I had high hopes but it did disappoint me with how it portrayed the girl as young and broken with a troubled past and made the guy seem pretty creepy. I love bdsm and this did a okay job at showing some, but overall I was not happy with how it was portrayed and I hope one day there's a better bdsm movie out there that more accurately represents the community.

This is the first time I saw the movie "Secretary" and it reminded me of "Fifty Shades of Grey", but I think it's much better. Even though I am not a fan of sexual masochism or any other isms in bed this movie portrays the real feelings of a girl who enjoyes pain and gets pleasure from it. Mr. Grey played by Spader is the dominant controlling man who can't seem to keep secreataries due to his controlling OCD personality, but seems to attract the complicated character of Ms. Lee played by Maggie Gyllenhaal. She is from a complicated family (her father is a drunk and a mother is loving, but too protective). Ms Lee comes to realization that her desires are different from everyone elses and even tries to date men like herself, she tries to date "normal men" like her neighbor, but at the end realizes that only Mr. Grey truly understands her desires and feelings. Awesome acting job of both main characters. This is the movie I would watch again.

I saw this film when it was first released, just watched it again and must say I liked it more the second time. It is not a porno, not BDSM nor, do I think, was it meant to be.
This is a story of two lonely damaged people whose personal "quirks" fit together nicely allowing them at least a shot at happiness, together, if that is, they can each muster the courage to open up to each other.
Maggie Gyllenhaal and James Spader, two of my favorites, were great.
My favorite scene is the last as Maggie Gyllenhaal (Ms. Holloway) looks into the camera, that look speaks volumes, what a great job she did.

It’s not a movie for everyone, but with an open-mind, a positive outlook on sexual exploration & the ability to look a little deeper at what’s being shown. A personal favorite; I’m not shy in saying.

This is the original Mr. Grey... This is no mainstream 50 shades fantasy catering to vapid female stereotypes. You need to understand or enjoy analyzing the multifaceted nature of complex or broken individuals.

This film contains self harm, mental health, learning to overcome, shame, guilt, fear, and society’s expectations to create a meaningful relationship that works for you & your partner, however taboo it may seem; It depicts alcoholism, abuse/violence against women (specifically in one scene when Lee witnesses a fight between her parents, which results in Lee’s self harm relapse) This movie shows the value of consent; The respect and appreciation that comes with true understanding and acceptance of your partner... Showing the different levels/needs of a submissive/dominant, and how that can change even in the smallest of ways, through Lee’s struggle feeling invisible and unable to be in control in her life all the way through Mr. Grey’s struggles with self acceptance and ability to sustain a relationship.

Because of the time in which the movie was created, and what was/is acceptable cinematically, I feel they had to limit or alter several situations that need more explanation for the less experienced viewers, and desperately needs a rerelease with deleted/alternate scenes, special features, and a director’s cut.