The Secret Life of Words

source: The Secret Life of Words

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.

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

Smart characters, talking from the silence with courage, is a beauty evocation of the feelings. Constructive advice for the society with strong voice. glad to see movies like this one!! 'An spot in the middle of the sea. An oil rig, where all the workers are men, there are just 5 left because of an accident. A solitary woman (Sarah Polley) is brought to the rig to look after a man (Tim Robbins) who has been temporarily blinded. A strange intimacy develops between them, a link full of secrets, truths, lies, humour and pain, from which neither of them will emerge unscathed and which will change their lives forever. A film about the weight of the past. About the sudden silence that is produced before a storm. About twenty-five million waves, a Spanish cook (Javier Cámara) and a goose. And, above all else, about the power of love even in the most terrible circumstances'

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.

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 saw this movie in a sneak preview at a local cinema yesterday evening and it was a complete wast of money and time. Let me try and tell you why. First of all, its very hard to keep focused on the movie because its very slow. Also the story is rather boring, it's about a girl with a history (she was tortured during a war) taking care of a man who's temporarily blind. They talk a lot. About food, hair colour, memories from there past and so on. It seems they are connecting and fall in love. She can't handle falling in love with this guy so she leaves. He gets his vision back, starts looking for her, finds her and they live happily ever after. The End. Seriously, nothing happens in between. My eight year-old daughter could have wrote the script for this movie. Probably within 15 minutes.

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.

This movie was terrible. Blatant cliché's ran rampant throughout the entire film. Total lack of direction and forward motion other than the obvious fact of Tim Robbins' character improving in health. Then the sound track jumping from song to song and ruining what little mood it might have had with a Tom Waits song. Absolute garbage. The actors carried what little substance the film might have contained and I commend them for that. But the line in the end says it all: "I'll learn to swim, Hanna." Are you kidding me?! How can a film have any redeeming quality after a cheeseball line like that? The 'thank you's at the end of the film only went to exaggerate the director's pathetic attempt at a run-of-the-mill "art" film.

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.