THE SECRET LIFE OF WORDS
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2005
DIRECTOR: Isabel Coixet
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Jean-Claude Larrieu
WRITER: Isabel Coixet
BUDGET: $5,000,000
GROSS: $6,410,058(worldwide)
The Secret Life Of Words is about Hannah, a hearing impaired factory worker (Sarah Polley) who is forced to take her first holiday in years and ends up traveling out to an oil rig, where she cares for a man, Josef, suffering from severe burns who is also temporarily blind (Tim Robbins). There are six other people on the rig, which has been shut down due to the accident that led to Josef's injuries.
We learn right from the beginning that there is something going on with Hannah. We don't know what it is, but watching her quiet, solitary and very organized rituals we get a sense that there is something more to her story.
While this is put out there from the beginning, the film doesn't play like a mystery trying to figure it out. Instead it allows the characters to interact very generically - and for any information to come out in a genuine way. In fact, for most of the film, I didn't care what had made Hannah how she was. I was just completely engaged and interested in seeing her as she was now, and how she interacted with the various people on the boat and Josef, as she slowly came just a little out of her shell.
The odd thing is that normally I would want to know more about her - to have things given to me over the course of the film so that there just isn't some big 'reveal' at the end that’s supposed to have it all make sense (It’s a little movie pet peeve of mine, when films do that). But here it works and I think I know why. In this case the film doesn't feel like it’s leading up to some kind of revelatory moment. The characters relations and the main story all stand up before we get to any kind of 'moment'.
This is a strong script from Director Isabel Coixet and a really good job of bringing her story to the screen. If you have a chance to see The Secret Life Of Words you should definitely check it out.