The Secret Life of Words (2005)

Director:

Isabel Coixet

Writer:

Isabel Coixet (writer)

Release Date:

21 October 2005 (Spain)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A hearing impaired factory worker gives up her first holiday in years and instead travels out to an oil rig, where she cares for a man suffering from severe burns.

Plot Keywords:

Oil Rig | Nurse Patient Relationship | Nurse | Burn | Female Nudity

Awards:

21 wins & 14 nominations

Cast

Sarah Polley	...	Hanna
Tim Robbins	...	Josef
Sverre Anker Ousdal	...	Dimitri (as Sverre Ousdal)
Javier Cámara	...	Simon
Danny Cunningham	...	Scott
Dean Lennox Kelly	...	Liam (as Dedan Lenox Kelly)
Emmanuel Idowu	...	Abdul
Eddie Marsan	...	Victor
Steven Mackintosh	...	Doctor Sulitzer
Julie Christie	...	Inge
Reg Wilson	...	Factory Manager
Leonor Watling	...	Josef's friend's wife
Daphne Brown	...	Old Lady on Bus
Muriel Hobson	...	Old Lady on Bus
Joshua Miligan	...	Child

Also Known As:

The Secret Life of Words (International: English title) (UK) (USA)
Vida secreta de las palabras, La (Spain)
Vida secreta de les paraules, La (Spain: Catalan title)
A Vida Secreta das Palavras (Brazil) (festival title) [pt]
Geheime Leben der Worte, Das (Germany) [de]
Mystiki zoi ton lexeon, I (Greece) [el]
The Secret Life of Words (France) [fr]
Vida secreta de las palabras, La (International: Spanish title) [es]
Vita segreta delle parole, La (Italy) [it]

Runtime:

115 min

Country:

Spain

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:M | Netherlands:MG6 | Sweden:15 | Germany:6 | Malaysia:U | Singapore:NC-16 | Hungary:16 | Argentina:13 | Spain:13 | Portugal:M/12 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | South Africa:13L

Filming Locations:

Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, UK

Company:

El Deseo S.A.

Trivia:

The story about a nurse named Cora that Josef tells to Hanna is a short-story named "La señorita Cora" by argentinean writer Julio Cortázar from his book "Todos los fuegos el fuego".

Goofs:

Factual errors: When she arrives at the oil rig by helicopter, Hanna is not wearing a transit or immersion suit. Wearing this is obligatory when travelling to off-shore installations in the North Sea.

Quotes:

Josef: I thought um, you and I, maybe we could go away somewhere. Together. One of these days. Today. Right now. Come with me.
Hanna: No, I don't think that's going to be possible.
Josef: Why not?
Hanna: Um, because I think that if we go away to someplace together, I'm afraid that, ah, one day, maybe not today, maybe, maybe not tomorrow either, but one day suddenly, I may begin to cry and cry so very much that nothing or nobody can stop me and the tears will fill the room and I won't be able to breath and I will pull you down with me and we'll both drown.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Features Kickboxer (1989)

Soundtrack:

You've Made Me So Very Happy

great job!

Smart characters, talking from the silence with courage, is a beauty evocation of the feelings.

Constructive advice for the society with strong voice.

glad to see movies like this one!!

'An spot in the middle of the sea. An oil rig, where all the workers are men, there are just 5 left because of an accident. A solitary woman (Sarah Polley) is brought to the rig to look after a man (Tim Robbins) who has been temporarily blinded. A strange intimacy develops between them, a link full of secrets, truths, lies, humour and pain, from which neither of them will emerge unscathed and which will change their lives forever. A film about the weight of the past. About the sudden silence that is produced before a storm. About twenty-five million waves, a Spanish cook (Javier Cámara) and a goose. And, above all else, about the power of love even in the most terrible circumstances'