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Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

Ortiz Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

magnuslhad 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.

georgejbennett 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 She has withdrawn to a safe place within herself, frequently turns off her hearing aid, and does not interact with co-workers or her environment.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. .

Ruby Liang (ruby_fff) Second time around collaboration with writer-director Isabel Coixet (previously in "My Life Without Me" 2003), Sarah Polley again gave us a stunning subdued performance portraying 'Hanna' (wears a hearing aid) with possible tough turmoil lodged within, seems rather be alone by herself. Tim Robbins matched with equal subtlety in his performance as 'Josef,' wounded both physically (burns and temporarily blind) and within, possible tenderness to share? The chemistry between the two talented actors made Coixet's emotional challenging script complete. I smiled when Polley's Hanna started to let go a little, giving herself a chance to taste Simon the cook's Epicurean food. Robbin's Josef being confined to bed and unable to see, conveyed volumes through his 'listening' facial expressions, movement of his head, and tone of his voice, cracking jokes even in pain. The pace is almost in real-time (may require some viewers to be patient and take in stride the events as they occur). Nothing is rushed - we are given time to ponder with Hanna and Josef, appreciating the growing relationship, closing the gap, trusting each other.The story setting includes life on an oil rig (off the coast of Northern Ireland at the time.) We get a sense of how each member of the team past their time after the alleged accident rendering the rig operation to shut down. The supporting cast, including the goose, complement the sketches of the story. Javier Cámara (Pedro Almodóvar's "Talk to Her" 2002) is Simon the ship's Spanish cook who befriends Hanna; Julie Christie (whom Polley directed in her directorial debut "Away from Her" 2006) is Inge the Danish therapist friend to Hanna. Sverre Anker Ousdal (I remember him from "Kitchen Stories" 2003) is the Norwegian ship's in-charge Dimitri who imparted his wisdom to Hanna: "Deep down, everything is an accident." Yes, the words (and the silence in between) to the dialog and scenes are well-thought out. Sample of a few are: "Maybe you are not. But I am." Hanna to Scott when he tried to explain that he's "not prejudiced." "How does one live with what happened?" "How does one live with the dead?" Josef asking Hanna. "I will learn to swim, Hanna, I swear. I will learn to swim." Josef to Hanna.The insertion of music and selected songs & lyrics*, juxtaposed with complete silence are aptly choreographed. And when you reached the end of the film, you may want to go back to the beginning credit roll and try to catch the 'secret words' that transiently appears with the display of each name and title. Some of the words are: silence, friend, sound, cut, pain, affection, scream, hope, child, ever, love, minutes, time, rain, believe, hope - ends with Coixet's name: always - hope. I rated THE SECRET LIFE OF WORDS at 9 out of 10: excellent script, thoughtful drama, superb acting, cinematography, production, editing both sound and visuals, music & songs and silence & dialog considerations, cultural diversity and the tough subject at heart, raising awareness and hope for the future. Kudos to the producers, Focus Features, Spanish and French production companies - especially to filmmaker Isabel Coixet. *song & lyrics of note: David Byrne's "Tiny Apocalypse"; Tom Waits "All the World is Green"

marc4ucb-1 Sophie's Choice meets the English Patient w/ a Hollywood endingThe acting and dialog in this movie are first rate. But is there a "there there"? Hanna is the emotionally damaged survivor of War atrocity. She avoids any emotional and social life working only for survival in a Scottish factory. When her employer forces her to take a vacation she is forced to think about more than survival. At the last second she tries to avoid leisure time and the possibility of introspection and resurfacing emotion by volunteering to nurse for badly burned oil rig worker, Josef (Tim Robbins). Isolated on the Oil Rig with a skeleton crew she is touched by the guilt ridden and emotionally extroverted Josef. In return she confesses her own horrors. Having exposed herself she escapes from this impromptu group therapy and returns to her previous work life. Josef tracks her down with the help of Hanna's psychiatrist, Inge (Julie Christie). Julie Christie is excellent in this cameo role. Inga violates the most basic ethics of her profession to help Josef find Hanna. Hanna attempts to reject Josef because she is afraid her emotional problems will overwhelm them both. Based only on Josef's assertion that he will learn to deal with her emotional problems she relents, embrace, kiss fade out. I love the way this film is made. I love the acting. I love the dialog. In the end the resolution does not hold up. It isn't that the plot is improbable, it is simply that there is no explanation of how the events lead to the resolution.