Love is Bind: 'Secretary' & 'Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!'

The Sleepless Cinematic Podcast

This week for their Two Shot episode, Emilio, Madeline, and Julian set their sights on a pair of unconventional, challenging, and highly self-aware movies about falling in love: Steven Shainberg's 2002 film 'Secretary' and Pedro Almodovar's 1989 release 'Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!' While discussing 'Secretary', Emilio details a personal story about discovering and appreciating this unusual film. The trio have a lot to say about Maggie Gyllenhaal's star-making performance as the main character Lee, the ways in which the film references several romantic comedy tropes, and express their approval of a "Wash and Dine" business. When the conversation shifts to 'Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!', the group continues to discuss romantic comedy narratives and what Almodovar does to subvert (and pervert) them. Considering the overarching theme of "perceptions of sanity", they ponder if terms like "sanity" and "sane" can be used to describe what and how we choose to show love, and what these movies have to say, if anything, towards that greater point. And of course, some Unlikely Shared Universe sprinkled in!
CONTENT WARNING: These are movies that depict and/or directly address self-harm, substance abuse, and violence of a sexual nature, and our conversation will occasionally reference this content.