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The Secret Life of Words

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Director
  
Music director
  
Hal Hartley

Duration
  

Country
  
Spain, Ireland

7.5/10
IMDb


Genre
  
Drama, Romance

Initial DVD release
  
May 8, 2007

Writer
  
Language
  
English

The Secret Life of Words movie poster

Release date
  
2005-10-21

Cast
  
(Hanna), (Josef), (Simon), (Victor), (Dr. Sullitzer),
Danny Cunningham
(Scott)

Similar movies
  
Saving Private Ryan
,
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
,
Top Gun
,
Dancer in the Dark
,
The Last Samurai
,
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

The secret life of words trailer


The Secret Life of Words is a 2005 Spanish drama film written and directed by Isabel Coixet and starring Sarah Polley, Tim Robbins, Javier Cámara and Julie Christie. It was released on December 15, 2006.

Contents

The Secret Life of Words movie scenes

The secret life of words


Plot

The Secret Life of Words movie scenes

Taciturn, partially deaf Hanna (Polley) is a Yugoslavian native working in a factory in Northern Ireland. She is forced to take a vacation by her boss, who tells her that her co-workers have been offended by her lack of socializing. After overhearing a conversation about a need for a nurse, she takes on a job as private nurse for burn victim Josef (Robbins). He is bedridden on an offshore oil rig after a fire on the rig, and has severe burns and is temporarily blinded. The rig is not operational awaiting an investigation, and few people remain on board.

The Secret Life of Words wwwgstaticcomtvthumbmovieposters159570p1595

Hanna talks very little, and especially does not want to talk about herself. Despite his pain, Josef is constantly making jokes, some of them humorous sexual advances. Hanna's care for him includes holding the urinal and washing his entire body. As they get closer, they start sharing their experiences. Unbeknownst to him, she listens over and over again to a message on his cell phone from a mysterious woman who was in love with him.

The Secret Life of Words Subscene Subtitles for The Secret Life of Words

Hanna learns from a colleague that Josef was injured while trying to save a man who committed suicide by intentionally throwing himself into the oil-rig fire. Some other tragic connection between the two men is implied. He tells about a near-drowning experience because he cannot swim. Eventually Josef confides to Hanna his greatest secret guilt, and she tells him about her previous life in the former Yugoslavia. She describes in detail the horrors she endured during the Balkan Wars (Yugoslav Wars), including being kidnapped and repeatedly raped. She shares experiences of the other women, including one that was forced to shoot her own daughter, and the slow and agonizing death of her best friend. She tells of her own repeated torture and lets him feel the scars on her body from the wounds inflicted on her.

The Secret Life of Words The Secret Life of Words Film Reviews Films Spirituality

Josef is not getting better, and at Hanna's initiative he is air-lifted off the oil rig to be taken to a hospital. When the helicopter lands, Josef wants Hanna to accompany him, but she walks away without a word. However, she leaves behind a backpack (apparently intentionally), and it contains enough information to give Josef a chance to find her. After he recovers, Josef travels to Denmark to visit a counselor that Hanna had seen after fleeing the war, seeking to learn more about her. He then tracks her down at the factory in Northern Ireland where she works. They talk, and at first she keeps her distance, saying she couldn't be with him because she thinks one day she could drown them both in her sorrow. When he tells her that he will "learn to swim," she reciprocates the love. Later, Hanna is shown in a home with the voice of a young girl explaining that Hanna now has two sons, whom the narrator refers to as her brothers, indicating that the woman Hanna described as having been forced to kill her own child was, in fact, herself. The voice of her daughter ends the film with the hope that Hanna will one day be able to live completely in the "now" and no longer be haunted by the past.

Awards and nominations

The Secret Life of Words The Secret Life of Words Film Reviews Films Spirituality

The film was nominated for five Goya Awards and won four of them, including best film of the year:

The Secret Life of Words One Movie a Day Day twentyfive The Secret Life of Words April 3

  • Won: Best Director (Isabel Coixet)
  • Won: Best Film
  • Won: Best Original Screenplay (Isabel Coixet)
  • Won: Best Production Supervision (Esther García)
  • Nominated: Best Supporting Actor (Javier Cámara)

  • The Secret Life of Words The Secret Life Of Words YouTube

    Polley was nominated as Best European Actress by the European Film Academy for her performance in this film.

    References

    The Secret Life of Words Wikipedia
    The Secret Life of Words IMDbThe Secret Life of Words Rotten TomatoesThe Secret Life of Words MetacriticThe Secret Life of Words themoviedb.org