Assume the position.

Maggie Gyllenhaal and James Spader smoulder as an unlikely couple whose workplace relationship unexpectedly blossoms into something… Beyond the professional. SECRETARY is an all-time Rio Theatre audience fan-favourite, and one of our most requested romances – a perfect fit for our Friday Late Night Movies series in February.

Sexy, sweet, hilarious and shocking, SECRETARY was a bonafide indie hit when it was released in 2002 and has since achieved total cult-status thanks to the incendiary chemistry between Gyllenhaal (in her breakout performance) and Spader (who’s never been better – this is peak Spader territory). Also starring Jeremy Davies, Lesley Anne Warren, and Stephen McHattie.

“A feel-good movie about sadomasochism, the seriocomic SECRETARY manages to be simultaneously subversive and sweet…In the wrong hands, the conceit could have turned ugly and offensive. But Spader and Gyllenhaal have a hushed, hilarious chemistry.” (Newsweek)

“SECRETARY manages the impossible trifecta of being simultaneously funny, sympathetic, and really, really hot.” (The Stranger)

“Remarkably, the film is less an S&M wallow than a love story between two consenting adults with complimentary sexual psychoses. Spader and Gyllenhaal are electric, bringing SECRETARY all the power and compassion it needs.” (Rolling Stone)

Friday, February 1
Doors 10:30 pm | Movie 11:00 pm
Advance tickets $10.50 HERE | $12.50 at the door

*Minors OK in the balcony! Must be 19+ w/ID for bar service and main floor seating.
**Rio Theatre Groupons and passes OK! Please redeem at the door.

SECRETARY (Steven Shainberg, 2002 / 104 mins / 18A) Lee Holloway is a smart, quirky woman in her twenties who returns to her hometown in Florida after a brief stay in a mental hospital. In search of relief from herself and her oppressive childhood environment, she starts to date a nerdy friend from high school and takes a job as a secretary in a local law firm, soon developing an obsessive crush on her older boss, Mr. Grey. Through their increasingly bizarre relationship, Lee follows her deepest longings to the heights of masochism and, finally, to a place of self-affirmation.