The Secret Life of Words

 

The Secret Life of Words 2005

• Director: Isabel Coixet
• Seen by this director: The Bookshop, Learning to Drive, Paris je t’aime, My Life Without Me
• Based on the book: no.
• Cast: Sarah Polley, Tim Robbins, Sverre Anckar Ousdal, Javier Cámara, Dan Cunningham, Dean Lennox Kelly, Daniel Mays, Eddie Marsan, Julie Christie, Steven Mackintosh, Reg Wilson
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Sarah Polley – Slings and Arrows, Dawn of the Dead, My Life Without Me, eXistenZ
• Tim Robbins – The She Found Me, Tenacious D, Catch a Fire, War of the Worlds, Mystic River, Human Nature, High Fidelity, Mission to Mars, Arlington Road, The Shawshank Redemption
• Sverre Anckar Ousdal – Insomnia, Falsk som vatten
• Dean Lennox Kelly - Collision, Being Human, Doctor Who, A Midsummer Night’s Dream Re-Told, Still Crazy
• Daniel Mays – 1917, Fisherman’s Friends, Rogue One, Victor Frankenstein, Doctor Who, Made in Dagenham, Hustle, Red Riding, Atonement, A Good Year, Vera Drake, All or Nothing
• Eddie Marsan – The Gentlemen, Atomic Blonde, Their Finest, River, X+Y, God’s Pocket, Still Life, Filth, The World’s End, Jack the Giant Slayer, Sherlock Holmes 1&2, Tyrannosaur, Red Riding, Happy-Go-Lucky, V for Vendetta, Vera Drake
• Julie Christie – Glorious 39, Finding Neverland, Harry Potter, Hamlet, Memoirs of a Survivor, Nashville, Heaven Can Wait, McCabe and Mrs Miller, The Go-Between, Petulia, Dr Zhivago, Far from the Madding Crowd, Fahrenheit 451, Darling
• Steven Mackintosh - Rocketman, Robot Overlords, The Thirteenth Tale, The Other Boleyn Girl, Our Mutual Friend, Twelfth Night, Karaoke, Prick Up Your Ears, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
• Reg Wilson – The Bookshop
• Why? Tim Robbins and the title.
• Seen: 4 November 2022      

       Hanna (Polley) works in a factory but is a nurse. She is forced by her boss (Wilson) to take a holiday. Instead she takes a job on an oil rig to take care of a severely burnt patient, Josef (Robbins). Josef is temporarily blind, and inquisitive. Hanna is deaf and very secretive.

       A gallery of finely portrayed unhappy loners gives this unusually tender film both depth and a sense of deep tragedy. It’s a beautiful, painful and odd little film. Robbins is, as always, excellent and Polley gives one of the best performances I’ve ever seen.      

5* of 5