The Princess and the Warrior and the Secretary

Der Krieger und die Kaiserin (The Princess and the Warrior) is Tom Tykwer's second outing after Lola Rennt (Run, Lola, Run). (Tykwer retains Franka Potente as his leading lady.) While Run, Lola, Run is fast and frenetic, this movie is slow and somber. Franka Potente plays Sissi, a psychiatric ward nurse, while Benno Furmann plays Bodo, an ex-soldier who can't hold down a steady job.

They meet in the most unusual of circumstances - under a truck. Bodo was running from the cops, and caused a truck to hit Sissi. Bodo, still evading the police, hides under the truck and finds Sissi there, unable to breathe. Not knowing that he is the cause of the accident, Bodo performs emergency tracheotomy on Sissi using a pen knife and a drinking straw. After she has recovered, Sissi goes looking for her saviour. She ultimately finds him, but he wants nothing to do with any woman after losing his wife in a gas station explosion. Bodo and his security guard brother pulls a bank heist, and Sissi happens to be there (again). The robbery goes wrong, and Bodo's brother is shot. His last words to Bodo were, "Get off the toilet, Bodo." Sissi hides Bodo in the mental institution as a new patient. Meanwhile, another patient tips off the police. Cornered on the roof, Sissi and Bodo jumps and lands on a moss-covered pool below. They make their escape to her friend's place in the countryside. Along the way, they pass by the gas station where Bodo's wife committed suicide. Bodo makes peace with himself and lives happily ever after with Sissi, fulfilling her dream in which they were "brother and sister, mother and father, husband and wife".

Actually, that last part is my own interpretation. The movie with its many subplots is much more complex and deeper than that, so its up to the audience to make his/her own conclusions.

Secretary is one of the more original movies I have seen. The humour is dark, some scenes are disturbing, but the script is highly original. On one hand, you have Lee (Maggie Gyllenhaal) who has a history of self-mutilation and masochism. On the other hand, you have Mr. Grey (James Spader) who is a tortured, twisted soul himself. Pair a submissive secretary with a dominant boss, and you've got a sadomasochistic love story. (Not for the squeamish.)

Lee is fresh out of the mental hospital. She completes a typing course and gets a job with E. Edward Grey as secretary. Mr. Grey finds a typo on her letter and marks it with one of his dozens of red markers. He calls her to his office and "punishes" her. Funny enough, Lee discovers that she liked the "punishment." She even goes out of her way to make deliberate mistakes, so she can get more. Things were okay for a while - Mr. Grey is able to release his sadistic tension and Lee feels empowered with the nitpicking Mr. Grey is giving her. One day, Mr. Grey probably figured this office romance is going to work out, so he starts giving her the cold treatment. Lee makes more and more obvious mistakes, but he just ignores her. He later fires her for good. On her wedding day to an old high school acquaintance, she runs away and declares her love to Mr. Grey. After days of sitting on Mr. Grey's chair with her hands on the table, with no food or drink or toilet breaks, she proves herself as a loyal submissive. Mr. Grey comes back and takes her as his bride.