Two persons trying to cope with the past: a splendid Sarah Polley and (as always) a great Tim Robbins. This is a smart and very interesting film about the way we try to escape from the past: with love and with words (and with silences). I also enjoyed the rest of the characters: it is amazing how they are described with small details here and there, and you finish the movie wanting to know more about the rest of the cast. Isabel Coixet did a splendid work here of portrayal of the more inner parts of the human soul. Please check the music of the film, the selection is really good and all the songs fit brilliantly in the plot of the film.
59 Reviews
Touching and Heartbreaking
claudio_carvalho3 August 2008
In Ireland, the introspective deaf worker Hanna (Sarah Polley) is forced to take vacations by her boss after four years service in a factory. She travels, but when she overhears a phone conversation in a restaurant, she offers to nurse a burned worker with fractures and temporarily blind in a decommissioned oil rig. Joseph (Tim Robbins) seriously wounded after risking his life to rescue a colleague that committed suicide jumping in a fire and need to stay for a while in the platform to stabilize his health condition. Hanna is a lonely woman, with the paranoid behavior of eating white rice, chicken nuggets and apple everyday and never repeating the soap, and she slowly interacts with the few workers first, opening her heart to Joseph later and disclosing her traumatic experience in her old country.
"The Secret Life of Words" is a touching and heartbreaking romance, with an awesome screenplay and wonderful performances of Sarah Polley and Tim Robbins. The dramatic story develops perfectly the characters and in spite of the happy-end, it is never corny. The sensitive direction of Isabel Coixet, from the stunning "My Life Without Me" with the same Sarah Polley, is top-notch again. The process of re-socialization of Hanna, who was dead inside and reborn after meeting Joseph, is intense. My vote is eight.
Title (Brazil): "A Vida Secreta das Palavras" ("The Secret Life of Words")
"The Secret Life of Words" is a touching and heartbreaking romance, with an awesome screenplay and wonderful performances of Sarah Polley and Tim Robbins. The dramatic story develops perfectly the characters and in spite of the happy-end, it is never corny. The sensitive direction of Isabel Coixet, from the stunning "My Life Without Me" with the same Sarah Polley, is top-notch again. The process of re-socialization of Hanna, who was dead inside and reborn after meeting Joseph, is intense. My vote is eight.
Title (Brazil): "A Vida Secreta das Palavras" ("The Secret Life of Words")
Remarkable independent film
paulscofield685 November 2005
Those of you who have seen Isabel Coixet's first film- My Life without Me- shouldn't miss this one. Like that film, this has a tragic-romantic essence at its core. A very well-written script, with a handful of themes, superbly acted, and direction/editing/score/soundtrack all good to very good (at times excellent). Dense, literate, and increasingly absorbing. By no means your mainstream action flick; yet this movie should find a large audience in those who like 'independent films' (or 'European', for Americans). Filmed in Ireland (much shot indoors), and entirely in English. A very satisfying drama- I found it even better than 'l'Enfant', which took top prize at this past Cannes Film Festival. Both are highly recommended...enjoy.
Secret's Poetry
efewebber23 October 2005
I went to see this last Isabel Coixet's movie three hours ago and its beautiful and powerful story is still bouncing in my head... the sea, Tim Robbin's eyes, Hanna's beautiful voice and her intense way of holding her feelings, Simon's delightful food in the middle of nowhere..
The way it is conceived is somehow simple, a mysterious woman, in my opinion extremely well resolved by Sarah Polley, happens to arrive to a remote place where a bunch of loners have just had a deep dramatic experience. As explicitly mentioned in the movie, 'God makes them..' ('Dios los cria'.., in Spanish), and so as she gets there she expands and relaxes in this environment where no one really expects anything from anybody.
The takes are so beautiful, the thousand different feelings that the same isolated landscape in the middle of the sea projects through the movie is unbeatable. The cast of characters is solid, and the supporting characters are developed enough so as to allow the viewer to understand, in basic terms, what brought them there.
Finally, the use of Tom Waits for the final transition is sublime! but, yeah, how could it not be? Tom Waits's music is the music for these films where the very deep of the heart is at stake.
So, yes, I do recommend this movie for anyone who cares or wants to care or would like to be able to care about people who have been profoundly wounded at some point. And this, I am afraid, hopefully includes you. Thanks Isabel.
The way it is conceived is somehow simple, a mysterious woman, in my opinion extremely well resolved by Sarah Polley, happens to arrive to a remote place where a bunch of loners have just had a deep dramatic experience. As explicitly mentioned in the movie, 'God makes them..' ('Dios los cria'.., in Spanish), and so as she gets there she expands and relaxes in this environment where no one really expects anything from anybody.
The takes are so beautiful, the thousand different feelings that the same isolated landscape in the middle of the sea projects through the movie is unbeatable. The cast of characters is solid, and the supporting characters are developed enough so as to allow the viewer to understand, in basic terms, what brought them there.
Finally, the use of Tom Waits for the final transition is sublime! but, yeah, how could it not be? Tom Waits's music is the music for these films where the very deep of the heart is at stake.
So, yes, I do recommend this movie for anyone who cares or wants to care or would like to be able to care about people who have been profoundly wounded at some point. And this, I am afraid, hopefully includes you. Thanks Isabel.
This film just screened as part of Brisbane International Film festival (Australia). I was truly devastated.
stefan-t11 August 2006
I understand the commentary about the revelation of pain but the most significant 'lesson' for me was the insidious horror of war - in a film without bloodshed - and obviously the lingering effects of man's inhumanity to man. The slow reveal of the characters' backgrounds crept up on me and to my surprise left me absolutely gutted at the film's conclusion -and for some time after. I was left with a feeling of emotional and physical grief that i have not felt since my father died - the uncontrollable tide of internal pain. While a completely different genre, it reminded me of Sophie's Choice but in comparison made Streep's horror look like a walk in the park. Polley is amazing. What human's do to each other is tragic beyond description. And yet, we continue to torture our fellow humans and apparently fail to learn from our mistakes.
What a wonderful movie
katkat004 November 2005
I have seen the movie and I have to say its just beautiful, no its not the slow, easy going romantic love story....it is difficult, critical and poetic. there is no action, its just about those 2 people, who are lonely, and experienced things in their lives nobody could imagine. this movie makes you think, think about your life, about your love about the world.
i can recommend it to everybody, who likes little quiet movies, which touch you go watch it, the 2 main actors are brilliant. sarah polley plays here role, with a heartbreaking truth, tim robbins (susan sarandons husband) does a great job as well.
i can recommend it to everybody, who likes little quiet movies, which touch you go watch it, the 2 main actors are brilliant. sarah polley plays here role, with a heartbreaking truth, tim robbins (susan sarandons husband) does a great job as well.
Cracking the Waves
oneloveall6 May 2007
Gently compassionate work describes the unusual relationship between a hearing impaired, anti-social nurse and the burn victim she takes care of on a desolate oil rig. It is a slow character piece which takes a little while to settle into any sort of admirable rhythm, though by the end older viewers should be thankful they were patient. To call the script underdeveloped would be a little unfair; there are plenty of details thrown in to keep a mild level of interest, but not until the final act does the film really offer anything of substance.
Until then we still have the strangely involving lead performance of Sarah Polley, painfully alluring in a way few stateside actresses can manage, commanding attention in a difficult role. Her foreign accent may sound generic, but she more then makes up for any dialect shortcomings with a brooding, subtle characterization which serves to keep viewers interested in learning what she is really all about. Polley still has not received the attention she deserves, and The Secret Life of Words only continues to prove her loyalty lies in her craft and not to her popularity or finances. She stars opposite Tim Robbins who plays the burn victim she begins to treat. Robbins, who has been on the decline as of late, does a decent job here. His main requirement is to lay in bed and wince from pain, so it is achieved fairly easy; the majority of emotional content falls on Polley's minimalist nuances.
Until a late-act explanation is provided to justify Polley's extreme behavior, the movie is a difficult one to gauge. It often feels that until that point the filmmaker relies on protracted ambiguity to fill out a running time. The oil rig location is appropriate and occasionally shot in an impressive way but for the most part is not really taken advantage of. Rightfully so, the intimate focus upon these two principal characters dominates Isabel Coixet's work, but it will only be late into the film that you will realize why. A slow, underwhelming relationship movie that redeems itself with a powerful finish.
Until then we still have the strangely involving lead performance of Sarah Polley, painfully alluring in a way few stateside actresses can manage, commanding attention in a difficult role. Her foreign accent may sound generic, but she more then makes up for any dialect shortcomings with a brooding, subtle characterization which serves to keep viewers interested in learning what she is really all about. Polley still has not received the attention she deserves, and The Secret Life of Words only continues to prove her loyalty lies in her craft and not to her popularity or finances. She stars opposite Tim Robbins who plays the burn victim she begins to treat. Robbins, who has been on the decline as of late, does a decent job here. His main requirement is to lay in bed and wince from pain, so it is achieved fairly easy; the majority of emotional content falls on Polley's minimalist nuances.
Until a late-act explanation is provided to justify Polley's extreme behavior, the movie is a difficult one to gauge. It often feels that until that point the filmmaker relies on protracted ambiguity to fill out a running time. The oil rig location is appropriate and occasionally shot in an impressive way but for the most part is not really taken advantage of. Rightfully so, the intimate focus upon these two principal characters dominates Isabel Coixet's work, but it will only be late into the film that you will realize why. A slow, underwhelming relationship movie that redeems itself with a powerful finish.
Good and Underrated
slake0911 June 2006
Great performances, an original idea, good script - it's just a great movie, which nobody I know has seen.
I have no idea why this one didn't get better distribution, it certainly deserves it. The little quirks of the characters liven up the story, as does the interaction between Polley's disturbed nurse and Robbin's rough patient. Although you could see the ending coming a mile away, that was fine, as it seemed that was what was supposed to happen.
This is a good one when you're in the mood for a somewhat dark drama with romantic overtones. The romance doesn't get too much in the way of the drama, the drama doesn't go overboard into melodrama.
I have no idea why this one didn't get better distribution, it certainly deserves it. The little quirks of the characters liven up the story, as does the interaction between Polley's disturbed nurse and Robbin's rough patient. Although you could see the ending coming a mile away, that was fine, as it seemed that was what was supposed to happen.
This is a good one when you're in the mood for a somewhat dark drama with romantic overtones. The romance doesn't get too much in the way of the drama, the drama doesn't go overboard into melodrama.
Not so bad, not so good!
indieke28 February 2007
Warning: Spoilers
This movie is particular. It has great actors, the idea is good, but there are flaws.
That the movie is a bit slow did not bother me, except that I was already tired this evening. The problem is that although a theme with great dramatic impact, is treated a bit too simplistic.
All the impact is about 2 things that take too much time to develop. I did not saw it in the theater so, I could see the last scene again.
There is no doubt about the ending. Her trauma is obvious, as the girl mentioned in the movie was not her friends, but her own.
It is about that life has to go own after terrible things you did, or had to do. Flaws it has, but it is a movie that makes you think, about all what can happen in a persons life, and how to cope with it.
That the movie is a bit slow did not bother me, except that I was already tired this evening. The problem is that although a theme with great dramatic impact, is treated a bit too simplistic.
All the impact is about 2 things that take too much time to develop. I did not saw it in the theater so, I could see the last scene again.
There is no doubt about the ending. Her trauma is obvious, as the girl mentioned in the movie was not her friends, but her own.
It is about that life has to go own after terrible things you did, or had to do. Flaws it has, but it is a movie that makes you think, about all what can happen in a persons life, and how to cope with it.
Educates the Viewer, Makes You Feel...Thank God At Least Almodovar Remembers What A Movie is Supposed to Do.
amaudet-213 January 2007
Warning: Spoilers
The film has a slow start, and even as you watch it you wonder why the character Joseph as played by Tim Robbins is in such a drastic state. In medical terms, he doesn't appear like a critical burn patient. But it helps the story.
I avoided this movie in the theaters because it is so deeply provocative and I knew it would require a lot of energy to watch. Now that I've seen it, I am honored to have had the experience. It made me feel, and made me remember a war that we have essentially forgotten.
I saw a bunch of posts here talking about the lack of romance. It is not a romance. Romance is for movies that cast Jennifer Anniston in the leading lady role. This is a love story, one that breaks your heart but also mends it. The main character tends to fall for attached women, and in the end he learns the real definition of attachment. When you face an adversary that can't be touched or even seen. Some might say that is the true definition of fear. The girl he falls for gives up her comfort of silence to love him in return.
What is more of a love story than that? If you haven't seen this movie, run out now. Put it in your Netflix queue. Harass your local video store if they don't carry it. Then sit down and watch it - by yourself.
Then decide if you're like Martin, a person in the world to be envied because they see the faults of the world. The huge chasms where the important things fall and try to catch them even though their hands are so small.
I avoided this movie in the theaters because it is so deeply provocative and I knew it would require a lot of energy to watch. Now that I've seen it, I am honored to have had the experience. It made me feel, and made me remember a war that we have essentially forgotten.
I saw a bunch of posts here talking about the lack of romance. It is not a romance. Romance is for movies that cast Jennifer Anniston in the leading lady role. This is a love story, one that breaks your heart but also mends it. The main character tends to fall for attached women, and in the end he learns the real definition of attachment. When you face an adversary that can't be touched or even seen. Some might say that is the true definition of fear. The girl he falls for gives up her comfort of silence to love him in return.
What is more of a love story than that? If you haven't seen this movie, run out now. Put it in your Netflix queue. Harass your local video store if they don't carry it. Then sit down and watch it - by yourself.
Then decide if you're like Martin, a person in the world to be envied because they see the faults of the world. The huge chasms where the important things fall and try to catch them even though their hands are so small.
This is an attractive movie by Isabel Coixet ; full of nice feeling , drama and stirring scenes , though slow-moving
ma-cortes27 November 2016
This is an interesting and thought-provoking drama in adequate length and yet with an air of naturalness and credibility . Including a dramatic and brooding screenplay by the same filmmaker . Hannah (Sarah Polley , Coixet wrote the role for her) is a factory worker who wears a hearing aid , she is forced to go on holiday , her first one in years . She doesn't want it and instead , Hannah arranges to find a job : caring for Josef (Tim Robbins who used contact lenses that damaged his eyes) , an injured oil rig worker who temporarily lost his sight . Hannah flies by helicopter to the oil rig (the name was Gaviota, but Coixet changed it into Genefke) . There she meets some workers , but is almost no one on the rig , except a cook (Javier Cámara) , an oceanographer and a few others .
Good but downbeat and sad film in which stands out its moving finale . The film tells the touching story of two protagonists , conflicting trajectory of a hapless , introspective woman and a man whom she tends who is suffering from severe burns . She then slowly breaks her shell of silence and to be discovered a terrifying truth . This is a thought-provoking as well as pleasant flick filmed with great sensitivity and feeling . Interesting script by Isabel Coixet who wrote the role of Hannah with 'Sarah Polley' in mind , she knows very well inter-cross these two troublesome roles , a woman who have not been able to vanquish his dark past and suffering a fateful existence as well as a severely wounded rig worker . The picture is very engaging as well as provoking , though some infinite sadness follows the film at times . The flick moves in fits and starts most of which would be desirable , with some moments of enjoyment and others quite a few disconcerting . It's an intelligent and touching story although sometimes is slow moving and tiring but is finely developed with sense of style and sensibility . Enjoyable as well as intense drama filled with emotion , artistic scenes and plenty of sensitivity . The picture relies heavily on the unusual relationship among a unfortunate , frustrated nurse who has suffered a lot of past distresses and an understanding ill , but it doesn't makes boring , as it results to be entertaining . The film enjoys a breeze as well as moving final , and gives us much to think about it and in which doesn't deceive or dramatize unnecessarily . Along these lines , it is clear that writer/filmmaker Coixet tries to create an unforgettable picture . Apart from that , it has a touch Pedro Almodóvar , producer too , that always feels good . The picture is primarily supported by sensational players with good acting all around . All of them carry out their characters to perfection and show a look that says it all . As the excellent Sarah Polley as a hearing impaired who gives up her holiday and travels out to an oil rig , where she cares for a man and magnificent Tim Robbins as a burn victim on an accident . The support cast is frankly nice , such as : Reg Wilson , Steven Mackintosh , Eddie Marsan , Julie Christie , Danny Cunningham , Leonor Watling , many of them giving brief but agreeable interpretations . Special mention for Javier Cámara as a sympathetic cook . Emotive and stirring musical plenty of wonderful songs . Appropriate and evocative cinematography by Jean-Claude Larrieu . Most of the film locations are around an oil rig . Being shot on location as the oil rig used was the Borgholm Dolphin rig that was docked in Belfast at the time . Takes of the oil rig were shot in Belfast and Bilbao . Interior scenes were filmed in Navalcarnero (Madrid, Spain). The movie is dedicated the founder of IRCT -played by Julie Christie- . IRCT is an organization that promotes and supports the rehabilitation of torture victims and works for the prevention of torture worldwide .
The motion picture was professional though slowly directed by Isabel Coixet . Here director Coixet mixes dull stretches with some really sensitive scenes . Coixet is an acclaimed Spanish filmmaker who has previously found international success with Elegy and The Secret Life of Words and she's the camera operator of her movies . Isabel never went to film school but she got a lot of education from commercials and really put in enough hours not to be in any way afraid of the camera . She founded her own production company , Miss Wasabi Films, in 2000 . And was member of the 'Official Competition' jury at the 59th Berlin International Film Festival in 2009 . Coixet has some fetish actresses who usually play his films , such as : Sarah Polley , Leonor Watling and Patricia Clarkson . Her filmography includes other feature films such as 'Cosas Que Nunca Dije' (Things I Never Told You) (1995), Elegy (2008), 'Mapa De Sonidos De Tokio' (Map of the Sounds of Tokyo) (2009), and the two latest 'Ayer No Termina Nunca' (Yesterday Never Ends) (2014) and 'Learning to Drive' (2013) and a thriller titled 'Another me' with Sophie Turner ; besides documentary films, shorts and commercials . And recent premiere in Berlin Festival of 'Nobody Wants the Night' (2015) starred by Juliette Binoche .
Good but downbeat and sad film in which stands out its moving finale . The film tells the touching story of two protagonists , conflicting trajectory of a hapless , introspective woman and a man whom she tends who is suffering from severe burns . She then slowly breaks her shell of silence and to be discovered a terrifying truth . This is a thought-provoking as well as pleasant flick filmed with great sensitivity and feeling . Interesting script by Isabel Coixet who wrote the role of Hannah with 'Sarah Polley' in mind , she knows very well inter-cross these two troublesome roles , a woman who have not been able to vanquish his dark past and suffering a fateful existence as well as a severely wounded rig worker . The picture is very engaging as well as provoking , though some infinite sadness follows the film at times . The flick moves in fits and starts most of which would be desirable , with some moments of enjoyment and others quite a few disconcerting . It's an intelligent and touching story although sometimes is slow moving and tiring but is finely developed with sense of style and sensibility . Enjoyable as well as intense drama filled with emotion , artistic scenes and plenty of sensitivity . The picture relies heavily on the unusual relationship among a unfortunate , frustrated nurse who has suffered a lot of past distresses and an understanding ill , but it doesn't makes boring , as it results to be entertaining . The film enjoys a breeze as well as moving final , and gives us much to think about it and in which doesn't deceive or dramatize unnecessarily . Along these lines , it is clear that writer/filmmaker Coixet tries to create an unforgettable picture . Apart from that , it has a touch Pedro Almodóvar , producer too , that always feels good . The picture is primarily supported by sensational players with good acting all around . All of them carry out their characters to perfection and show a look that says it all . As the excellent Sarah Polley as a hearing impaired who gives up her holiday and travels out to an oil rig , where she cares for a man and magnificent Tim Robbins as a burn victim on an accident . The support cast is frankly nice , such as : Reg Wilson , Steven Mackintosh , Eddie Marsan , Julie Christie , Danny Cunningham , Leonor Watling , many of them giving brief but agreeable interpretations . Special mention for Javier Cámara as a sympathetic cook . Emotive and stirring musical plenty of wonderful songs . Appropriate and evocative cinematography by Jean-Claude Larrieu . Most of the film locations are around an oil rig . Being shot on location as the oil rig used was the Borgholm Dolphin rig that was docked in Belfast at the time . Takes of the oil rig were shot in Belfast and Bilbao . Interior scenes were filmed in Navalcarnero (Madrid, Spain). The movie is dedicated the founder of IRCT -played by Julie Christie- . IRCT is an organization that promotes and supports the rehabilitation of torture victims and works for the prevention of torture worldwide .
The motion picture was professional though slowly directed by Isabel Coixet . Here director Coixet mixes dull stretches with some really sensitive scenes . Coixet is an acclaimed Spanish filmmaker who has previously found international success with Elegy and The Secret Life of Words and she's the camera operator of her movies . Isabel never went to film school but she got a lot of education from commercials and really put in enough hours not to be in any way afraid of the camera . She founded her own production company , Miss Wasabi Films, in 2000 . And was member of the 'Official Competition' jury at the 59th Berlin International Film Festival in 2009 . Coixet has some fetish actresses who usually play his films , such as : Sarah Polley , Leonor Watling and Patricia Clarkson . Her filmography includes other feature films such as 'Cosas Que Nunca Dije' (Things I Never Told You) (1995), Elegy (2008), 'Mapa De Sonidos De Tokio' (Map of the Sounds of Tokyo) (2009), and the two latest 'Ayer No Termina Nunca' (Yesterday Never Ends) (2014) and 'Learning to Drive' (2013) and a thriller titled 'Another me' with Sophie Turner ; besides documentary films, shorts and commercials . And recent premiere in Berlin Festival of 'Nobody Wants the Night' (2015) starred by Juliette Binoche .
Not the most social film in the world
KuRt-3314 May 2006
I have a feeling this may be one of those movies like 'The Goddess of 1967', a movie people will either love (for its beauty) or hate (and claim it's hollow trash that pretends to be intellectual).
'La Vida' is a movie that's largely based on an oil rig. An explosion has occurred, killing one guy and badly injuring a man who tried to help. The problem is: where can you find a nurse that wants to work on an oil rig? Enter Hanna Amiran, a deaf girl who has worked in a factory for four years without taking a day off. Now Hanna has been forced by the unions to take some time off. Hanna, seemingly unaware of what a vacation is, books herself a stay in a shabby hotel and is eating Chinese food when she overhears a man who's working for the oil company: "Where can we find a nurse that wants to work on an oil rig?" Hanna goes up to him and says: "I'm a nurse."
Hanna is not the most social person in the world. That she's deaf is helpful: if she doesn't want to communicate she turns off her hearing aid. Which makes her an ideal person to work on an oil rig: the captain, the cook, the biologist... all of them are pretty introvert. The thing is: when a new person is brought to the oil rig, they do want to have some social contact. But not Hanna. She's even less revealing to Josef, the man she has to nurse. Josef is badly burnt and because of the fire has lost the ability to see for a couple of weeks. Not being able to see anything, he wants to talk the whole time. Which seems to upset Hanna. She tells him his name is Cora, she lies about the colour of her hair...
Throughout the movie you'll see the secretive layers of Josef and Hanna peel off. And all of it will come to a painful climax long before the movie ends.
One of the other people on the oil rig is Simon (Daniel Mays of 'Funland'), who's sent to study the waves violently bashing against the rigs. In his own time he also studies mussels (which are affected by the pollution) and hopes that one day when the oil has been pumped out of the sea the rigs will be used to make the water cleaner. That is the bit that makes me feel some will dismiss this movie as pretentious nonsense. Hanna's history, which I won't reveal, is also a heavy subject. And yes, maybe this movie wants too much, but Coixet does manage to find a setting to make her story work and enough setting to back it up convincingly.
Maybe the movie ends a bit too positive, but after what we've heard it's okay to lose reality and dream for the best.
Polley and Robbins are very good, as are the rest of the supporting cast. The childish voice-over you hear at the beginning and the end of the movie has raised a couple of questions on internet fora as to which character it is. Some of the comments on those fora made me want to see the movie again. Which, whatever way you put it, is always a good sign.
It's hard to describe this movie as we're not dealing with 'actions', but rather the 'aftermath of actions'. Which is why the movie is both silent and talkative. Which is why we're voyeurs trying to peel off the layers too. The best (and possibly the only) way to describe this movie is by using one word: intense.
'La Vida' is a movie that's largely based on an oil rig. An explosion has occurred, killing one guy and badly injuring a man who tried to help. The problem is: where can you find a nurse that wants to work on an oil rig? Enter Hanna Amiran, a deaf girl who has worked in a factory for four years without taking a day off. Now Hanna has been forced by the unions to take some time off. Hanna, seemingly unaware of what a vacation is, books herself a stay in a shabby hotel and is eating Chinese food when she overhears a man who's working for the oil company: "Where can we find a nurse that wants to work on an oil rig?" Hanna goes up to him and says: "I'm a nurse."
Hanna is not the most social person in the world. That she's deaf is helpful: if she doesn't want to communicate she turns off her hearing aid. Which makes her an ideal person to work on an oil rig: the captain, the cook, the biologist... all of them are pretty introvert. The thing is: when a new person is brought to the oil rig, they do want to have some social contact. But not Hanna. She's even less revealing to Josef, the man she has to nurse. Josef is badly burnt and because of the fire has lost the ability to see for a couple of weeks. Not being able to see anything, he wants to talk the whole time. Which seems to upset Hanna. She tells him his name is Cora, she lies about the colour of her hair...
Throughout the movie you'll see the secretive layers of Josef and Hanna peel off. And all of it will come to a painful climax long before the movie ends.
One of the other people on the oil rig is Simon (Daniel Mays of 'Funland'), who's sent to study the waves violently bashing against the rigs. In his own time he also studies mussels (which are affected by the pollution) and hopes that one day when the oil has been pumped out of the sea the rigs will be used to make the water cleaner. That is the bit that makes me feel some will dismiss this movie as pretentious nonsense. Hanna's history, which I won't reveal, is also a heavy subject. And yes, maybe this movie wants too much, but Coixet does manage to find a setting to make her story work and enough setting to back it up convincingly.
Maybe the movie ends a bit too positive, but after what we've heard it's okay to lose reality and dream for the best.
Polley and Robbins are very good, as are the rest of the supporting cast. The childish voice-over you hear at the beginning and the end of the movie has raised a couple of questions on internet fora as to which character it is. Some of the comments on those fora made me want to see the movie again. Which, whatever way you put it, is always a good sign.
It's hard to describe this movie as we're not dealing with 'actions', but rather the 'aftermath of actions'. Which is why the movie is both silent and talkative. Which is why we're voyeurs trying to peel off the layers too. The best (and possibly the only) way to describe this movie is by using one word: intense.
Much sensitivity, but too much talk
Chris Knipp21 December 2006
Warning: Spoilers
In this offbeat, slow-to-unfold picture (the first hour is hard to get through by any standard), Hanna, a war-traumatized Bosnian nurse (Sarah Polley) connects with Josef, a burn victim (Tim Robbins) whom she cares for on an oil-rig.
We know from frame one that Hanna, who has an unidentifiable foreign accent, is a shut-down personalityher emptiness is presented with a Beckettian rigor. She's a workaholic her coworkers can't stand because she won't relate to them. She's never taken a vacation or a day of sick leave and the manager at the English factory where she bags rolls of plastic (Reg Wilson) implores her to take a long vacation.
Unwilling to go anywhere nice, she winds up at a damp seaside town in the wintertime where an overheard conversation leads her to return briefly to her nursing vocation caring for the temporarily blinded and immobile Josef. (Why he's kept on the oil-rig and not immediately evacuated to a hospital--other than its usefulness to the plot development--is hard to fathom, to coin a phrase.) As Hanna, Polley has a great understated role, assuming you buy her somewhat simplistically conveyed accent. The key scenes are those between Hanna and Josef in the cabin where he's being cared for: it's here exclusively that the bond is forged.
The filmmakers may have sought to avoid having the drama seem too claustrophobic and limited by moving outside the sickroom to explore the now under-populated oil-rig, which has been shut down since the accident. Minor characters on the rig are well developedbut this somewhat backfires, since their variety only underscores how blank Josef and Hanna are to each other and to us for a lot of their screen time, just as the charm of some crew members highlights how painfully awkward and at times rather generic efforts at sincerity and reserve are in many of the the Robbins-Polley sequences. Fact is that Polley's character is a blank through most of the picture, and despite seemingly being more forthcoming, Robbins' doesn't reveal much everexcept for a family trauma and a secret behind the accident. Who he is otherwise we never learn: developing him might have been a better way to spend our time than conversations with the cheerful chef, the crusading but neurotic oceanographer, the stoical captain, the gay couple, etc.
Hanna loosens up with Josef a little too suddenly, for all the slow buildup. It would be nice if the screenplay had made her shift more gradually. As the patient, Robbins hams it up a bit, but what else can he do? His job is to appear to be loosening her up. In the movie, an inability to enjoy life is signified by a lack of interest in food, and Simon (Javier Cámara), a Spanish cook on board whose inventiveness annoys the English crew members, helps Hanna revive her palate. Feeling at home in the isolated setting of the oil-rig that Hanna learns suits the others too, she starts to relax and even smile at Josef's lame or rude jokes, and the pair achieve a wary intimacy that leads to revelations and emotional bonding. But she is quick to pull back, arranging for Josef to be transferred to a hospital.
Once Josef's on the mainland, Hanna splits, closes up again, and returns to her factory job, but in a hasty coda, after Josef recovers, he goes looking for her with romance in mind. On Robbins' search Julie Christie turns up, looking great as usual, in a too-chilly performance as a Danish counselor who helped Polley debrief after her trauma. At this point the movie, which is co-dedicated to the IRCT (The International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims--Christie is meant to represent its founder) really starts haranguing us about war traumas, and given that the screenplay is all talk and no action to begin with, her baldfaced lecture is even harder to swallow. Good performances don't entirely save this humorless feel-bad feel-good tale that tells more than it shows. If you make it through the interminable first 90 minutes and don't mind humorless lectures on war and ecology, there's a happy endingsort ofbut most audiences will find there's too much to be endured and too little to be enjoyed in this painfully well-meaning, sensitive picture. The Secret Life of Wordsyes, we get plenty of that in this talky, over-explanatory piece; but maybe not enough of the Open Life of Deeds.
We know from frame one that Hanna, who has an unidentifiable foreign accent, is a shut-down personalityher emptiness is presented with a Beckettian rigor. She's a workaholic her coworkers can't stand because she won't relate to them. She's never taken a vacation or a day of sick leave and the manager at the English factory where she bags rolls of plastic (Reg Wilson) implores her to take a long vacation.
Unwilling to go anywhere nice, she winds up at a damp seaside town in the wintertime where an overheard conversation leads her to return briefly to her nursing vocation caring for the temporarily blinded and immobile Josef. (Why he's kept on the oil-rig and not immediately evacuated to a hospital--other than its usefulness to the plot development--is hard to fathom, to coin a phrase.) As Hanna, Polley has a great understated role, assuming you buy her somewhat simplistically conveyed accent. The key scenes are those between Hanna and Josef in the cabin where he's being cared for: it's here exclusively that the bond is forged.
The filmmakers may have sought to avoid having the drama seem too claustrophobic and limited by moving outside the sickroom to explore the now under-populated oil-rig, which has been shut down since the accident. Minor characters on the rig are well developedbut this somewhat backfires, since their variety only underscores how blank Josef and Hanna are to each other and to us for a lot of their screen time, just as the charm of some crew members highlights how painfully awkward and at times rather generic efforts at sincerity and reserve are in many of the the Robbins-Polley sequences. Fact is that Polley's character is a blank through most of the picture, and despite seemingly being more forthcoming, Robbins' doesn't reveal much everexcept for a family trauma and a secret behind the accident. Who he is otherwise we never learn: developing him might have been a better way to spend our time than conversations with the cheerful chef, the crusading but neurotic oceanographer, the stoical captain, the gay couple, etc.
Hanna loosens up with Josef a little too suddenly, for all the slow buildup. It would be nice if the screenplay had made her shift more gradually. As the patient, Robbins hams it up a bit, but what else can he do? His job is to appear to be loosening her up. In the movie, an inability to enjoy life is signified by a lack of interest in food, and Simon (Javier Cámara), a Spanish cook on board whose inventiveness annoys the English crew members, helps Hanna revive her palate. Feeling at home in the isolated setting of the oil-rig that Hanna learns suits the others too, she starts to relax and even smile at Josef's lame or rude jokes, and the pair achieve a wary intimacy that leads to revelations and emotional bonding. But she is quick to pull back, arranging for Josef to be transferred to a hospital.
Once Josef's on the mainland, Hanna splits, closes up again, and returns to her factory job, but in a hasty coda, after Josef recovers, he goes looking for her with romance in mind. On Robbins' search Julie Christie turns up, looking great as usual, in a too-chilly performance as a Danish counselor who helped Polley debrief after her trauma. At this point the movie, which is co-dedicated to the IRCT (The International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims--Christie is meant to represent its founder) really starts haranguing us about war traumas, and given that the screenplay is all talk and no action to begin with, her baldfaced lecture is even harder to swallow. Good performances don't entirely save this humorless feel-bad feel-good tale that tells more than it shows. If you make it through the interminable first 90 minutes and don't mind humorless lectures on war and ecology, there's a happy endingsort ofbut most audiences will find there's too much to be endured and too little to be enjoyed in this painfully well-meaning, sensitive picture. The Secret Life of Wordsyes, we get plenty of that in this talky, over-explanatory piece; but maybe not enough of the Open Life of Deeds.
not worth the time
julesmollica29 October 2006
Warning: Spoilers
I was quite disappointed in this film and the characters in it. Sarah Polley's accent was strange and she was often hard to understand. Tim Robbin's hardly looked injured I failed to see why he could not be airlifted from the rig. The quirky oil rig characters did little to add to the story. I never felt Hannah and Josef's relationship had any real foundation. His line about 'learning to swim' at the end of the film drew groans from the entire audience which I think is rather telling. Again, to establish what tenuous connection the two of them had simply took too long to then be wrapped up neatly at the end. And for a man who had recently declared his love for another woman, it was unbelievable. Another unusual and unnecessary addition was that of Hannah's child who spoke at the beginning and end of the film and was peculiar.
Silence as a Protection for Facing Past Horrors
gradyharp13 May 2007
Warning: Spoilers
It is always a joy to find a DVD in the videostore that is completely an unknown entity, only to discover upon viewing it that it is a little masterpiece of cinematic art. Such is the case with THE SECRET LIFE OF WORDS, and having seen the film now raises the question of how it went unnoticed in the theater release. Though touted on the cover as an 'Almodóvar film', in reality it's connection to the genius lies in the fact that both Pedro and his brother Agustín Almodóvar were executive producers: the film was written and directed by Spanish artist Isabel Coixet (Paris, je t'aime, Invisibles, My Life Without Me). It is a minimalist statement about the indomitable human spirit, a story that slowly unwinds to reveal some of the most terrifying aspects of trauma of war and guilt and shame ever written.
Hanna (Sarah Polley, in a phenomenal performance) is a deaf, silent reclusive young woman working as a line operator in a factory, so married to her meaningless job that her boss insists she take a vacation she deserves. Hanna does as she's told, and journeys to a seaside spot where she hears about a man on an oil rig in the middle of the ocean who is severely burned and needs a nurse. Hanna quietly takes the job, is flown by the doctor (Steven Mackintosh) to the isolated oil rig, populated with only a few men - cook Simon (Javier Cámara of 'Hable con ella', 'La Mala educación, 'Lucía y el sexo' etc), oceanographer and workers (Eddie Marsan, Daniel Mays, Dean Lennox Kelly, Danny Cunningham, Emmanuel Idowu) and a captain (Steven Mackintosh), and meets her patient Josef (Tim Robbins) who is temporarily blinded from burns to his corneas, and severely burned on his limbs.
Josef seeks to discover information from Hanna, but Hanna shares nothing about herself, spending her time dressing Josef's wounds, feeding him and tending to his needs. He slowly reveals his painful past to her (he was burned in an accident in which his best friend was burned to death, the friend whose wife had become Josef's lover!). Hanna is treated well by the few men on the isolated rig and learns to eat the exotic foods prepared by Simon, becoming friends with the crew, though at a distance, and gradually Hanna speaks with Josef about herself. In a painful confessional Hanna reveals that she is Bosnian and a survivor of the Balkan war, a hideous time when she and her close friend were captured, tortured and raped, leaving Hanna with physical as well as psychic scars and an enormous feeling of shame that her friend died and she survived. This knowledge bonds Hanna and Josef, but by this point it is time for Josef to be medevaced to a hospital onshore and the two part company. After some time has passed and Josef has recovered, he begins his search for Hanna and the journey and its finale serve as a touching end to the story.
The cast is uniformly brilliant, including a small role of Hanna's therapist played convincingly by Julie Christie. The metaphors the tale offers are many, but the most moving is an examination of how the human mind deals with survival and shame after trauma. Director Isabel Coixet draws such subtle performances from the entire cast in this very small film, proving she is one of the more important artists in film making today. Very Highly Recommended. Grady Harp.
Hanna (Sarah Polley, in a phenomenal performance) is a deaf, silent reclusive young woman working as a line operator in a factory, so married to her meaningless job that her boss insists she take a vacation she deserves. Hanna does as she's told, and journeys to a seaside spot where she hears about a man on an oil rig in the middle of the ocean who is severely burned and needs a nurse. Hanna quietly takes the job, is flown by the doctor (Steven Mackintosh) to the isolated oil rig, populated with only a few men - cook Simon (Javier Cámara of 'Hable con ella', 'La Mala educación, 'Lucía y el sexo' etc), oceanographer and workers (Eddie Marsan, Daniel Mays, Dean Lennox Kelly, Danny Cunningham, Emmanuel Idowu) and a captain (Steven Mackintosh), and meets her patient Josef (Tim Robbins) who is temporarily blinded from burns to his corneas, and severely burned on his limbs.
Josef seeks to discover information from Hanna, but Hanna shares nothing about herself, spending her time dressing Josef's wounds, feeding him and tending to his needs. He slowly reveals his painful past to her (he was burned in an accident in which his best friend was burned to death, the friend whose wife had become Josef's lover!). Hanna is treated well by the few men on the isolated rig and learns to eat the exotic foods prepared by Simon, becoming friends with the crew, though at a distance, and gradually Hanna speaks with Josef about herself. In a painful confessional Hanna reveals that she is Bosnian and a survivor of the Balkan war, a hideous time when she and her close friend were captured, tortured and raped, leaving Hanna with physical as well as psychic scars and an enormous feeling of shame that her friend died and she survived. This knowledge bonds Hanna and Josef, but by this point it is time for Josef to be medevaced to a hospital onshore and the two part company. After some time has passed and Josef has recovered, he begins his search for Hanna and the journey and its finale serve as a touching end to the story.
The cast is uniformly brilliant, including a small role of Hanna's therapist played convincingly by Julie Christie. The metaphors the tale offers are many, but the most moving is an examination of how the human mind deals with survival and shame after trauma. Director Isabel Coixet draws such subtle performances from the entire cast in this very small film, proving she is one of the more important artists in film making today. Very Highly Recommended. Grady Harp.
Outstanding! Isabel has done it again!
nicoloved23 October 2005
What a remarkable film! "The Secret Life of Words" grows on you little by little, at a steady and constant relaxed pace, throwing at you intriguing images and sounds from the very beginning that will get you hooked wondering until the very end.
Isabel has done it again, an emotional "rollercoaster" that gets to you in a devastating way. We needed this movie!
This movie could have been called "The Forgotten". Why we prejudice people we don't know simply because they behave differently, in ways we do not understand? How come we pretend to understand certain things that we cannot even imagine to be happening in the world?
The story of Hannah is the story of the millions that have been forgotten, but that walk with us every day.
Subtle and brilliant. Fine and devastating.
My admiration to Isabel for her bravery and talent. A terrific next film after "My Life Without Me".
The cast is wonderful! Sarah Polley and Tim Robbins are absolutely fantastic. What a performance! Julie Christie is great too (she sure got the great lines!). Thank you, thank you all.
Entertaining in a meaningful way.
Absolutely recommendable!
All the best to your film Isabel!!
Nico
Isabel has done it again, an emotional "rollercoaster" that gets to you in a devastating way. We needed this movie!
This movie could have been called "The Forgotten". Why we prejudice people we don't know simply because they behave differently, in ways we do not understand? How come we pretend to understand certain things that we cannot even imagine to be happening in the world?
The story of Hannah is the story of the millions that have been forgotten, but that walk with us every day.
Subtle and brilliant. Fine and devastating.
My admiration to Isabel for her bravery and talent. A terrific next film after "My Life Without Me".
The cast is wonderful! Sarah Polley and Tim Robbins are absolutely fantastic. What a performance! Julie Christie is great too (she sure got the great lines!). Thank you, thank you all.
Entertaining in a meaningful way.
Absolutely recommendable!
All the best to your film Isabel!!
Nico
Another beautiful film by Isabel Coixet
Benedict_Cumberbatch13 June 2007
Isabel Coixet, the most exciting name to come from Spain since Pedro Almodóvar (who produced this film, by the way), made another remarkable film after her unforgettable "My Life Without Me" (2003), also starring Sarah Polley.
"The Secret Life of Words" is the contemplative, poignant story of a young hearing impaired woman (Polley), who takes care of a man (Tim Robbins) who suffered severe burns in an accident on an oil rig. The accident made him blind for a while, and though he can't even see her, they develop an unlikely emotional bond. Polley and Robbins deliver some of their best performances; the supporting cast (Javier Cámara, Daniel Mays and Julie Christie, among others) is also top-notch. Coixet's sensitive, multi-layered script/directing, plus the excellent cinematography and soundtrack, help make the enterprise so powerful and absorbing. For those who like human stories, this one shouldn't be missed. Coixet is currently filming "Elegy", with Ben Kingsley, Penélope Cruz and Peter Sarsgaard - I'm looking forward to whatever comes next from her, and that one looks quite promising!
My vote: 10/10.
"The Secret Life of Words" is the contemplative, poignant story of a young hearing impaired woman (Polley), who takes care of a man (Tim Robbins) who suffered severe burns in an accident on an oil rig. The accident made him blind for a while, and though he can't even see her, they develop an unlikely emotional bond. Polley and Robbins deliver some of their best performances; the supporting cast (Javier Cámara, Daniel Mays and Julie Christie, among others) is also top-notch. Coixet's sensitive, multi-layered script/directing, plus the excellent cinematography and soundtrack, help make the enterprise so powerful and absorbing. For those who like human stories, this one shouldn't be missed. Coixet is currently filming "Elegy", with Ben Kingsley, Penélope Cruz and Peter Sarsgaard - I'm looking forward to whatever comes next from her, and that one looks quite promising!
My vote: 10/10.
Sophie's Choice meets the English Patient w/ Hollywood ending
marc4ucb-110 September 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Sophie's Choice meets the English Patient w/ a Hollywood ending
The acting and dialog in this movie are first rate. But is there a "there there"? Hanna is the emotionally damaged survivor of War atrocity. She avoids any emotional and social life working only for survival in a Scottish factory. When her employer forces her to take a vacation she is forced to think about more than survival. At the last second she tries to avoid leisure time and the possibility of introspection and resurfacing emotion by volunteering to nurse for badly burned oil rig worker, Josef (Tim Robbins). Isolated on the Oil Rig with a skeleton crew she is touched by the guilt ridden and emotionally extroverted Josef. In return she confesses her own horrors. Having exposed herself she escapes from this impromptu group therapy and returns to her previous work life. Josef tracks her down with the help of Hanna's psychiatrist, Inge (Julie Christie). Julie Christie is excellent in this cameo role. Inga violates the most basic ethics of her profession to help Josef find Hanna. Hanna attempts to reject Josef because she is afraid her emotional problems will overwhelm them both. Based only on Josef's assertion that he will learn to deal with her emotional problems she relents, embrace, kiss fade out. I love the way this film is made. I love the acting. I love the dialog. In the end the resolution does not hold up. It isn't that the plot is improbable, it is simply that there is no explanation of how the events lead to the resolution.
The acting and dialog in this movie are first rate. But is there a "there there"? Hanna is the emotionally damaged survivor of War atrocity. She avoids any emotional and social life working only for survival in a Scottish factory. When her employer forces her to take a vacation she is forced to think about more than survival. At the last second she tries to avoid leisure time and the possibility of introspection and resurfacing emotion by volunteering to nurse for badly burned oil rig worker, Josef (Tim Robbins). Isolated on the Oil Rig with a skeleton crew she is touched by the guilt ridden and emotionally extroverted Josef. In return she confesses her own horrors. Having exposed herself she escapes from this impromptu group therapy and returns to her previous work life. Josef tracks her down with the help of Hanna's psychiatrist, Inge (Julie Christie). Julie Christie is excellent in this cameo role. Inga violates the most basic ethics of her profession to help Josef find Hanna. Hanna attempts to reject Josef because she is afraid her emotional problems will overwhelm them both. Based only on Josef's assertion that he will learn to deal with her emotional problems she relents, embrace, kiss fade out. I love the way this film is made. I love the acting. I love the dialog. In the end the resolution does not hold up. It isn't that the plot is improbable, it is simply that there is no explanation of how the events lead to the resolution.
A great movie on survival and healing
Campusgirl28 November 2005
When people go through great amounts of pain and unbearable suffering, it takes a lot of time for them to be able (if ever) to heal and go on with their lives. This movie helps us to understand that process and connect with other people's pain. It does it in a very slow way, it's true, but that's the greatness and beauty of this movie. It gives us time to understand what these people have been thru, and shows how important it is that we do not forget, or let those that have suffered to be forgotten. It's not 'showy', not fast, not overly intellectualized but small, understanding and truthful. It gives us people difficult to watch because they are block, closed and reserved but at the same time gives us time to understand why, and that in the end it is possible to survive, to heal from the most terrible things that can happen to a human being. This movie is not for people who are not sensitive enough to think about what happened 'around the corner' some years ago and what extent can the human cruelness reach. The movie could have been pathetic and sentimental but it's not (it does have its faults but the outcome is so important that you forgive that). It shows that there is a place in a world for those that have suffered, and for those that are hurt, lonely, shy, and for those to whom the mere existence is difficult. And already for that I am grateful for this movie, that shows that there is so much more in life than words, and that we all carry a rich universe in us to be explored if we love and are loved no matter who we are and what life has put us through.
Fine Film Bruised By Hollywood Ending
samkan8 August 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Why is this woman so depressed? TSLOW does a great job of holding your interest on this mystery. Countless films try to hook you with this question (many with more lavish or exciting circumstances) but few succeed. TSLOW pulls it off and makes excellent use of setting; i.e., the lonely oil rig is a great idea. Although I correctly guessed at the source of Hanna's sorrow - the accent gave it away - I was no less captivated by her account. Tim Robbins does his usual fine performance. I don't know if the writer/director intended it, but Hanna's ordeal had the interesting effect of trumping the burn victim's problems, sort of like the moral, "I cried because I had no shoes, until I saw a man who had no feet."
The film could have been excellent had the Hollywood crowd pleaser ending been changed. I would have been saddened but more appreciative if; e.g., Robbins had walked away from the shrink's office, understanding when to leave tragedy alone.
The film could have been excellent had the Hollywood crowd pleaser ending been changed. I would have been saddened but more appreciative if; e.g., Robbins had walked away from the shrink's office, understanding when to leave tragedy alone.
Story of Hanna and Josef - another thoughtful delivery from Spanish filmmaker Isabel Coixet, poignant script of wounded hearts, a deep dark subject tough to retain solo
ruby_fff1 May 2009
Second time around collaboration with writer-director Isabel Coixet (previously in "My Life Without Me" 2003), Sarah Polley again gave us a stunning subdued performance portraying 'Hanna' (wears a hearing aid) with possible tough turmoil lodged within, seems rather be alone by herself. Tim Robbins matched with equal subtlety in his performance as 'Josef,' wounded both physically (burns and temporarily blind) and within, possible tenderness to share? The chemistry between the two talented actors made Coixet's emotional challenging script complete. I smiled when Polley's Hanna started to let go a little, giving herself a chance to taste Simon the cook's Epicurean food. Robbin's Josef being confined to bed and unable to see, conveyed volumes through his 'listening' facial expressions, movement of his head, and tone of his voice, cracking jokes even in pain. The pace is almost in real-time (may require some viewers to be patient and take in stride the events as they occur). Nothing is rushed - we are given time to ponder with Hanna and Josef, appreciating the growing relationship, closing the gap, trusting each other.
The story setting includes life on an oil rig (off the coast of Northern Ireland at the time.) We get a sense of how each member of the team past their time after the alleged accident rendering the rig operation to shut down. The supporting cast, including the goose, complement the sketches of the story. Javier Cámara (Pedro Almodóvar's "Talk to Her" 2002) is Simon the ship's Spanish cook who befriends Hanna; Julie Christie (whom Polley directed in her directorial debut "Away from Her" 2006) is Inge the Danish therapist friend to Hanna. Sverre Anker Ousdal (I remember him from "Kitchen Stories" 2003) is the Norwegian ship's in-charge Dimitri who imparted his wisdom to Hanna: "Deep down, everything is an accident." Yes, the words (and the silence in between) to the dialog and scenes are well-thought out. Sample of a few are: "Maybe you are not. But I am." Hanna to Scott when he tried to explain that he's "not prejudiced." "How does one live with what happened?" "How does one live with the dead?" Josef asking Hanna. "I will learn to swim, Hanna, I swear. I will learn to swim." Josef to Hanna.
The insertion of music and selected songs & lyrics*, juxtaposed with complete silence are aptly choreographed. And when you reached the end of the film, you may want to go back to the beginning credit roll and try to catch the 'secret words' that transiently appears with the display of each name and title. Some of the words are: silence, friend, sound, cut, pain, affection, scream, hope, child, ever, love, minutes, time, rain, believe, hope - ends with Coixet's name: always - hope.
I rated THE SECRET LIFE OF WORDS at 9 out of 10: excellent script, thoughtful drama, superb acting, cinematography, production, editing both sound and visuals, music & songs and silence & dialog considerations, cultural diversity and the tough subject at heart, raising awareness and hope for the future. Kudos to the producers, Focus Features, Spanish and French production companies - especially to filmmaker Isabel Coixet.
*song & lyrics of note: David Byrne's "Tiny Apocalypse"; Tom Waits "All the World is Green"
The story setting includes life on an oil rig (off the coast of Northern Ireland at the time.) We get a sense of how each member of the team past their time after the alleged accident rendering the rig operation to shut down. The supporting cast, including the goose, complement the sketches of the story. Javier Cámara (Pedro Almodóvar's "Talk to Her" 2002) is Simon the ship's Spanish cook who befriends Hanna; Julie Christie (whom Polley directed in her directorial debut "Away from Her" 2006) is Inge the Danish therapist friend to Hanna. Sverre Anker Ousdal (I remember him from "Kitchen Stories" 2003) is the Norwegian ship's in-charge Dimitri who imparted his wisdom to Hanna: "Deep down, everything is an accident." Yes, the words (and the silence in between) to the dialog and scenes are well-thought out. Sample of a few are: "Maybe you are not. But I am." Hanna to Scott when he tried to explain that he's "not prejudiced." "How does one live with what happened?" "How does one live with the dead?" Josef asking Hanna. "I will learn to swim, Hanna, I swear. I will learn to swim." Josef to Hanna.
The insertion of music and selected songs & lyrics*, juxtaposed with complete silence are aptly choreographed. And when you reached the end of the film, you may want to go back to the beginning credit roll and try to catch the 'secret words' that transiently appears with the display of each name and title. Some of the words are: silence, friend, sound, cut, pain, affection, scream, hope, child, ever, love, minutes, time, rain, believe, hope - ends with Coixet's name: always - hope.
I rated THE SECRET LIFE OF WORDS at 9 out of 10: excellent script, thoughtful drama, superb acting, cinematography, production, editing both sound and visuals, music & songs and silence & dialog considerations, cultural diversity and the tough subject at heart, raising awareness and hope for the future. Kudos to the producers, Focus Features, Spanish and French production companies - especially to filmmaker Isabel Coixet.
*song & lyrics of note: David Byrne's "Tiny Apocalypse"; Tom Waits "All the World is Green"
Powerful, but . . .
byron-1166 March 2022
. . . slow moving film, yet it kept my interest throughout. Stellar performances by all, including secondary roles. Julie. Christie has a minor but important role, but I hardly recognized her. A powerful film for the strong.
Bleak, beautiful and haunting. A slow and worthwhile romance.
Chris_Docker17 June 2007
Do you have a secret? Something you have never told anyone?
The Secret Life of Words captures the imagination with its title from act one. Some sort of emergency. The voice of someone drowned out. Later the world of sound as experienced through a young factory worker. And again as she switches her hearing aid on.
But this powerful melodrama highlights much deeper human rights issues. Things that can hardly be spoken. We follow the secretive, insular Hanna (Sarah Polley) as she is forced to take a holiday only to get work on an oil rig. The part could almost have been written for a young Jodie Foster. Hanna gives nothing away about herself, and is a model worker. Yet we are convinced that her reticence is due to some traumatic experience that she cannot divulge.
Josef (Tim Robbins) is bedridden on the oil-rig. He tries to wheedle information out of Hanna about herself. Yet he too harbours a secret that he is too ashamed to tell anyone.
Their cathartic emotional journey towards one another is compelling and realistic enough to forgive the clichés in this somewhat stagey story. Everything hinges on their acting and they are both up to the challenge. Robbins is in his element, having found a film that tackles important moral outrages without being patronising. Polley is a revelation unfolding before our eyes. When she eventually puts her life story into words it is more than most of the audience can bear.
When Hanna and Josef connect, their words have been pared down. Hinting at the inexpressible. Yet the past still haunts them. Only when the things given life again by their words have died, can they rise above the waves that have engulfed them.
Hanna says: ¨I may begin to cry and cry so very much that nothing or nobody can stop me and the tears will fill the room and I won't be able to breath and I will pull you down with me and we'll both drown.¨ To which Josef replies, ¨I'll learn how to swim, Hanna. I swear, I'll learn how to swim.¨
The weakness of a Secret Life of Words is that the minimalist style could be too slow for many viewers. Unashamedly low budget, it focuses on good acting in claustrophobically tight sets. ¨There are very few things - ,¨ (a voice-over says at the start of the film), ¨ - silence and words.¨
Indeed, there is very little else in the movie. The sound contrasts bring us back to the silence and words of the two leads. We stitch off from the coarse, macho joshing of the male crew. The oceanographer measuring the number of waves hitting the rig is cute, but his concern over what is really important will probably not be heard by anyone else. Hanna's fragility, and that she is so much more than a factory worker, is what intrigues us. This bleak and beautiful film is a triumph of dialogue.
Hopefully audiences will stop to listen.
The Secret Life of Words captures the imagination with its title from act one. Some sort of emergency. The voice of someone drowned out. Later the world of sound as experienced through a young factory worker. And again as she switches her hearing aid on.
But this powerful melodrama highlights much deeper human rights issues. Things that can hardly be spoken. We follow the secretive, insular Hanna (Sarah Polley) as she is forced to take a holiday only to get work on an oil rig. The part could almost have been written for a young Jodie Foster. Hanna gives nothing away about herself, and is a model worker. Yet we are convinced that her reticence is due to some traumatic experience that she cannot divulge.
Josef (Tim Robbins) is bedridden on the oil-rig. He tries to wheedle information out of Hanna about herself. Yet he too harbours a secret that he is too ashamed to tell anyone.
Their cathartic emotional journey towards one another is compelling and realistic enough to forgive the clichés in this somewhat stagey story. Everything hinges on their acting and they are both up to the challenge. Robbins is in his element, having found a film that tackles important moral outrages without being patronising. Polley is a revelation unfolding before our eyes. When she eventually puts her life story into words it is more than most of the audience can bear.
When Hanna and Josef connect, their words have been pared down. Hinting at the inexpressible. Yet the past still haunts them. Only when the things given life again by their words have died, can they rise above the waves that have engulfed them.
Hanna says: ¨I may begin to cry and cry so very much that nothing or nobody can stop me and the tears will fill the room and I won't be able to breath and I will pull you down with me and we'll both drown.¨ To which Josef replies, ¨I'll learn how to swim, Hanna. I swear, I'll learn how to swim.¨
The weakness of a Secret Life of Words is that the minimalist style could be too slow for many viewers. Unashamedly low budget, it focuses on good acting in claustrophobically tight sets. ¨There are very few things - ,¨ (a voice-over says at the start of the film), ¨ - silence and words.¨
Indeed, there is very little else in the movie. The sound contrasts bring us back to the silence and words of the two leads. We stitch off from the coarse, macho joshing of the male crew. The oceanographer measuring the number of waves hitting the rig is cute, but his concern over what is really important will probably not be heard by anyone else. Hanna's fragility, and that she is so much more than a factory worker, is what intrigues us. This bleak and beautiful film is a triumph of dialogue.
Hopefully audiences will stop to listen.
It so sad it's boring and dull
marallu8221 December 2006
Warning: Spoilers
Firts i wanna point out that i liked the films of this director and that was the reason i wanted to see SLOW, My life without was so simple and beautiful and believable that it can't be done a better film with less material, a sick young mother and her family, and it works perfect. I also recommend Things i never told you is about love and in the same way is lovely and beautiful, and the characters are normal people in normal situations that are happening right now around the world. But SLOW( yes, secret life of words is very slow) is just a pretentious independent film like many others, is the result of Coixet's looking herself too much time into the mirror. The characters are non consistent, OK she was tortured and raped, that was clear from the beginning, there was no need of that unbelievable confession to her patient. Javier camera, a high talented actor, is reduced to a mere clown. Tim Robbins is also a clown but a less dark one and more interested in her. The crew are all rejects with no more character development. And she is just a traumatized girl OK, but do we really need a two hour long film to point out that? There's no a single scene to remember everything is so affected, please Isabel don't look yourself in the mirror anymore. The problem is that she has been highly awarded for this film, so i think there won't be any films like the two mentioned before.
A 9.5, but I'll give it a 10 anyway
Ulfy25 December 2006
Warning: Spoilers
I gave this movie a rare 10. It stroke the right chords for me. The acting is wonderful of both the main characters' parts, as well as the progression with which they get closer to each other. It did not feel hasty either.
It makes you think the gentle way with which she treated Josef would make it hard for anybody NOT to fall in love with her.
A love story of a different kind for me, I found was beautifully put on screen. The only hiccup would be that the ending left me wanting to see a bit more. I'm sure I'm not the only one feeling this way.
The movie is also a reminder about the genocide indeed many people forgot about.
Highly recommended nonetheless. One heck of a good love story.
It makes you think the gentle way with which she treated Josef would make it hard for anybody NOT to fall in love with her.
A love story of a different kind for me, I found was beautifully put on screen. The only hiccup would be that the ending left me wanting to see a bit more. I'm sure I'm not the only one feeling this way.
The movie is also a reminder about the genocide indeed many people forgot about.
Highly recommended nonetheless. One heck of a good love story.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
