The Secret Life of Words (2005)

Pretty Good

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

Blistering performances.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Hanna is a serious, slightly dour young woman from Eastern Europe working in a factory in the British Isles. She works diligently, and keeps herself to herself, which somehow brings her unwanted attention. You get the feeling her actions have provoked the very response she was trying to avoid. Forced to take a vacation, she happens to overhear a phone conversation that leads to her nursing a burn victim on an oil rig. This fairly forced set-up sets the tone for a narrative that takes a lyrical approach to people living small, desperate lives in an extreme, desolate location. The motivations for everyone being there are uniformly opaque. The interactions mostly serve one purpose, to show that Anna is cut off from people and carries some tragic secret. As we get this in the first five minutes, the film is mostly static from that point on till that 'secret' is revealed. Sarah Polley does a great job as the taciturn Anna, but the film as a whole fails to support the weight of the revelation that Anna eventually offers up. The story she tells is powerful, but the characters who decorate the oil rig plot till then are flimsy and do not incite curiosity. Also, as the tragic secret is revealed all in monologue, it seems almost anti-cinematic, with only Tim Robbins emoting in reaction shots offering any visual texture or depth. Some heavy-duty actors turn up to play bit parts, including Eddie Marsan and Julie Christie. The gravitas of the theme merits their presence, but the execution of the story does not. We all have secrets, and some of us carry greater burdens than others. These are fascinating concepts for art cinema to explore, but despite some fine acting talent putting in impressive performances, The Secret Life of Words does not do them justice.

Isabel Coixet's "The Secret Life of Words" stars Sarah Polley as a withdrawn, scarred, hearing impaired factory worker who volunteers to work on an oil rig. There she takes care of a character played by Tim Robbins, who is suffering from severe burns and temporary blindness.The film overindulges in monologues, and is too reminiscent of Oscar-baiting fare like "Sophie's Choice" and "The English Patient", but Polley turns in another excellent performance. She seems to specialise in giving good performances in films which should be better.The idea of a lonely girl on an oil-rig in the middle of the ocean is very good, and lends itself to all kinds of interesting possibilities, but Coixet can't milk these possibilities. Too often her film drifts toward conventional melodrama and familiar plot points. Still, the film boasts some fine ambiance, another raw, generous performance by Polley, and a likable cast of characters, all of whom turn to isolation and self-imposed exile as a means of shielding themselves from pain and trauma. One interesting subplot deals with an environmentalist who essentially cares so much that the world itself seems to have forced him out, turning him into a shipwrecked non citizen.7.9/10 – Wastes a good premise. This story could have been taken down a range of far more interesting avenues. Worth one viewing.

In her daily routine as a factory worker and city dweller the dissociated Hannah portrays a torture survivor's shame. She has withdrawn to a safe place within herself, frequently turns off her hearing aid, and does not interact with co-workers or her environment. Co-workers have complained to Hannah's supervisor about her behavior. He praises Hannah for her work habits and her consistency over her four years at the factory then directs her to take a month's vacation.During her vacation on the coast of Ireland she overhears a phone conversation about a burn victim on an offshore oil drilling platform who needs round-the-clock nursing care on the platform until he is stable enough to make the trip to the burn center. We learn that Hannah is a trained nurse who has worked in a burn center as she finds it within herself to react to this victim's need and agrees to provide the necessary care for the 2 week stabilization period.After a short helicopter flight and a brief introduction to her temporarily blinded burn patient she begins the tasks of cleaning, feeding, and providing medical care. They awkwardly make conversation. Through the labor of each conversation and the effort of each interaction we learn a little more about them. In time, they are able to connect to poignantly share their survivor's stories and then their shame. They are able to provide one another with a critical human support element that is necessary for each to move on with their lives just before Josef, the burn victim, is transported to the burn clinic.Well into his recovery Josef is released from the burn clinic at which time he is given a backpack (Hannah's backpack) that was inadvertently checked in with his personal property. He reluctantly accepts it and leaves the clinic. Then Josef meets with the wife of a co-worker who died in the fire on the offshore oil platform to bring closure to this part of his life. Afterwards, he begins his search for Hannah, his nurse.Josef searches for Hannah from addresses found on letters in her backpack. His search takes him to Copenhagen where we learn more about Hannah from an Amnesty International Worker who provides counseling to torture victims. He then travels to her town in Ireland where he finds her outside of the factory. With much trepidation, each re-connects with their humanity and with one another.This movie tells a story that contrasts the worst of human behavior against the best of human behavior in a way that engages us at the very core of our being. .

I'll make a note of where the spoiler language comes about; you're safe until then.The film could have been set anywhere but to place it on an oil rig, near abandoned following a fire, is inspired. There are only a handful of characters, each of which brings both an amount of spice to the main story and a bit of reprieve - sort of brief time-outs - and to add some flavour, like a small chorus, to the main story.The film is not subtle in certain aspects; the director/writer fairly kicks us in the head and yells at us that these people, on a cold, steel desert island, are lonely. At the same time, she lays down hints to make the watcher think about what else is going on in their lives. Of course, it is the two leads that one is most curious about but small exchanges with the supporting cast leave us curious about the lives of each on board. And when we are at last let in on Hanna's secret, the empathy that builds can be shared amongst all the characters and beyond. *** SPOILER ALERT. Skip now to end of paragraph to avoid it **** Indeed, it got me wondering seriously about holocausts and made me wonder of my past thoughts that it gets tedious when Jews continue to raise the WWII holocaust over and over. It caused me to truly wonder about where my thoughts have been and what I now think about the various acts of genocide that have occurred during my lifetime and before. What must one do about this? This film has been on my "must see" list for a while and I'm glad I picked it up.If you appreciate films that make you question beliefs and attitudes, then you may well like this one.I'm a small 'f' fan of Almodovar's films (Talk to Her) and to see his involvement, along with a couple of his favourite actors, in a film with Sarah Polley (or, vice versa) was delightful. Not to mention Tim Robbins; this international collaboration is wonderful.Oh, and if you see the movie and can't understand what Ms. Polley's character is saying in a spot or two early on, don't worry. It becomes much more understandable not far into the film.