Secret Life of Words, The

Movie Info

Genre(s): Drama  |  Foreign

Written by: Isabel Coixet

Directed by: Isabel Coixet

Release Date:
Theatrical: December 15, 2006
DVD: May 8, 2007

Running Time: 115 minutes, Color

Origin: Spain

Summary

RATING: Not Rated

Starring Sarah Polley, Tim Robbins, Javier Cámara, Eddie Marsan, Steven Mackintosh, Julie Christie, and Sverre Anker Ousdal

Isabel Coixet's intensely perceptive, cathartic love story is about the need for human interdependence and the power of silence and speech to transcend trauma. (Strand Releasing)

Also On Metacritic

FILM: My Life Without Me

Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site

What The Critics Said

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What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 8.2 (out of 10) based on 11 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Chad S. gave it a7:
After we hear Hanna(Sarah Polley) tell Josef(Tim Robbins) her story of survival during the Balkan War, some of us may question why she'd volunteer her nursing services on an oil rig, a place that will be populated predominantly by men? Isn't she supposed to be traumatized by the male species? Hannah's occupation as some nondescript factory worker seems like a custom fit for her life's agenda of complete anonymity, because it's egalitarian and the monotonous nature of this sort of job neutralizes a person's strengths and weaknesses. The uniform aids her invisibility because it desexualizes herself, as well as the other women and men. But then Hanna is forced to go on vacation by management. Exactly why she wants to be an individual again(a nurse, a person who stands alone) is never made clear. We know Hannah is alone, but that's her choice. There's also a certain oddness in Hannah's decision to confess her traumatic past to Josef, her patient, who helped inspire a friend to self-immolate due to his sexual indiscretion. In spite of her painful experiences with men, she's attracted to a bad boy. Why not fall in love with the nice marine biologist who wants to save all the sea creatures? He's kind of blind, too(like Josef due to the fire). He's more interested in the sea than this beautiful girl. Still, Sarah Polley and Tim Robbins have chemistry, which is important to help stave off the claustrophobia of a largely one-setting movie.

Rich P. gave it an8:
I could easily have slipped out of the movie within the first 20 minutes and missed a very thought provoking and emotionally rendering film. The slow start was the means to obtain an initial reading of the Hanna's character and my reading was that I did not like to be around her. Tim Robbins character on the other hand starts out as glib and carefree as his bed confinement would allow him and from this vantage point you see the two characters wind around each other's emotional weaknesses in an unwanted type of collaboration. Patience and thoughtfulness are required to really be taken up by the film. I don't know if I really enjoyed its viewing as much as the following conversations with friends about the movie's development.