The story of two oddballs' discovery of love through office S&M, Secretary easily could have turned out to be a laughable pseudo-porn. But Maggie Gyllenhaal and James Spader play repression and loneliness so convincingly and with such wit that they turn the risky premise into a bold, sexy, and splendidly bizarre fairy tale. The sight of Gyllenhaal getting spanked by her boss (Spader) is controversial, to say the least -- and as a feminist, I wouldn't have it any other way.