The Secret Life of Words (2005)

A hearing impaired factory worker gives up her first holiday in years and instead travels out to an oil rig, where she cares for a man suffering from severe burns.

Director:

Isabel Coixet

Writer:

Isabel Coixet

Stars:

Sarah Polley, Tim Robbins, Sverre Anker Ousdal

25 wins & 15 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sarah Polley	...	Hanna
Tim Robbins	...	Josef
Sverre Anker Ousdal	...	Dimitri (as Sverre Ousdal)
Javier Cámara	...	Simon
Danny Cunningham	...	Scott
Dean Lennox Kelly	...	Liam (as Dean Lenox Kelly)
Daniel Mays	...	Martin
Emmanuel Idowu	...	Abdul
Eddie Marsan	...	Victor
Steven Mackintosh	...	Doctor Sulitzer
Julie Christie	...	Inge
Reg Wilson	...	Factory Manager
Leonor Watling	...	Josef's Friend's Wife
Daphne Brown	...	Old Lady on Bus
Muriel Hobson	...	Old Lady on Bus

Storyline

Hannah, who wears a hearing aid, is forced to go on holiday. On holiday she manages to find a job: caring for Josef, a burn victim on an oil rig who temporarily lost his sight, until he's stable enough to be transferred. There is almost no one on the rig, except a cook, an oceanographer and a few others out at sea. Hannah tends to Josef and he slowly breaks her shell of silence.

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Plot Keywords:

oil rig | burn victim | yugoslav wars | unfaithfulness | father son relationship | 

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Italian censorship visa # 99708 delivered on 9 March 2006.

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Goofs

In order to fly out to the rig, Hanna would have had to do a three-day off-shore survival course. There seems to be no indication that she does this in the film.

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Quotes

Inge: Before the holocaust, Adolf Hitler called all of his collaborators together and in order to convince them that he could get away with his plan he asked them who remembers the extermination of the Armenians? That's what he said. Thirty years later nobody remembered the million Armenians exterminated in the cruelest possible way.

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Connections

Spoofed in Muchachada nui: Episode #4.3 (2010)

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Soundtracks

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Performed by Juliette Gréco

User Reviews

This film just screened as part of Brisbane International Film festival (Australia). I was truly devastated.

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.

Details

Official Sites:

Mongrel Media [Canada] Official site [Spain]

Country:

Spain Ireland

Language:

English Danish

Release Date:

21 October 2005 (Spain)

Also Known As:

The Secret Life of Words

Filming Locations:

Donaghadee, County Down, Northern Ireland, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$5,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$5,309, 17 December 2006

Gross USA:

$20,678

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$6,410,058

Company Credits

Production Co:

El Deseo, Hotshot Films, Mediapro

Technical Specs

Runtime:

115 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1