# "Secretary" is one of my all time favorite love stories **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 1, 2011, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secretary-is-one-of-my-all-time-favorite-love-stories/573111 "2011-03-01T22:05:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secretary-is-one-of-my-all-time-favorite-love-stories/573111/1 "2011-03-01T22:05:09Z")
Because it is one of the most, if not THE most believable love stories I can think of. I completely believe that these two people are completely gaga over each other. They have connected on a core level that doesn’t make sense to most people, but makes perfect sense to them. And in the way of the truest love, their love for each other helps to free them from their own self-loathing in a very honest, believable way. Now, I am a complete sucker for a standard, bullshit, totally unrealistic bunch of fluff in a love story, but when it’s over I can forget about it because I recognize that it’s pure movie goo. No so “Secretary”. If you haven’t seen it, you should. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secretary-is-one-of-my-all-time-favorite-love-stories/573111/2 "2011-03-01T22:08:47Z")
It’s interesting that you say that because I was reading an interview with author of the short story it’s based on (Mary Gaitskill) and she basically says it’s like a cute, Disneyfied, very Hollywood version of what she was trying to say. I can’t pull that interview up now (website’s down) but I’ll link to it if I get a chance later. ETA: This isn’t the interview I read but it’s [another one](http://www.nerve.com/content/the-nerve-interview-mary-gaitskill)where she discusses the film: > [@](#): > > I haven’t thought about it. My reaction to it, when I saw the rough cut, I thought it was the stupidest thing I’d ever seen. But I just thought, well, whatever. I felt sorry for Shainberg [the director]. I didn’t feel sorry for myself. I thought, the poor son of a bitch went through so much trouble, he’s never going to find a distributor, that’s really sad. But then there became this whole thing with money. I didn’t get paid when I was supposed to, and I was concerned that they were going to cheat me, and a lawyer told me they very well could. That was what upset me. I didn’t give a fuck about anything else. I just thought, if I don’t get my money, I’m going to have to kill somebody. > > So I didn’t see it for a long time. I got paid, and as far as I was concerned that was the end of the story. Then my sister came to visit, and she wanted to see it. It had been out for some months at that point, and we went to the theatre, and I enjoyed it! Its not what I would have done but it’s kind of sweet. My actual character in the story, Debby, she would have loved it. It was too cute and ham-fisted, too “wanting to create a positive image.” It wanted to make people feel good about themselves. It was so odd, because I read an interview with the screenwriter, who was sort of blathering about political correctness and how awful it was — well, the movie is the epitome of political correctness! It was a positive statement about people who are into S&M, and those who don’t understand. Which I find icky. But bottom line, it’s great to have a movie of your work no matter what; it’s a no-lose situation. > > Have you ever read what Nabokov said, that Chekhov wrote sad stories for humorous people, and in order to understand their humor you have to understand their sadness because they’re connected? People don’t get that now. To me, Secretary was a sad story for humorous people. It’s actually very funny. But you have to feel the pain of it before you can laugh at it. I think you can certainly like the movie and like the story too, but I think a lot of people whom the movie would appeal to would not understand that. ---
**Author:** ![Chopper9760](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cdc98d/32.png) [@Chopper9760](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chopper9760)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secretary-is-one-of-my-all-time-favorite-love-stories/573111/3 "2011-03-01T23:12:49Z")
I enjoyed my visit to Mary Gaitskill’s Wikipedia page, mostly for this quote: “I don’t think much of Sade as a writer, although I enjoyed beating off to him as a child.” I always liked Secretary even if it is a little saccharine. This is the first I’ve heard of Gaitskill. I’ll probably give her a try but it sounds like she writes depressing stories about the same character over and over. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secretary-is-one-of-my-all-time-favorite-love-stories/573111/4 "2011-03-01T23:41:56Z")
She is pretty bleak. I’ve only read a little of her stuff so far. This week I read her novel Two Girls Fat and Thin and I’ve read a few of her short stories from the collection Secretary is in. She does capture those dull, minute details of human existence that somehow just become so depressing when she puts them on paper. Curtis Sittenfeld does that a bit, too, but she’s positively uplifting when compared with Gaitskill. Still, I do appreciate that kind of writing even though I don’t want to read it all the time because it’s honest and because it speaks to the way I think. (Not sure what that says about me.) If you want to read Secretary online, [Nerve.com has it](http://www.nerve.com/content/secretary) but for some reason there’s no text on the last page so you’ll be missing the ending. ---
**Author:** ![filling\_pages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9bd4f/32.png) [@filling\_pages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filling_pages)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secretary-is-one-of-my-all-time-favorite-love-stories/573111/5 "2011-03-02T18:02:28Z")
I have to admit, the main thing I remember really enjoying from that film was the typewriters in the computerless office. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secretary-is-one-of-my-all-time-favorite-love-stories/573111/6 "2011-03-02T21:19:09Z")
Love, love, love this movie.