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 | Burn | Nurse | Doctor | Nurse Patient Relationship

Awards:

22 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 Dean Lenox Kelly)
Daniel Mays	...	Martin
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

Also Known As:

The Secret Life of Words (International: English title) (UK) (USA)
La vida secreta de las palabras (Spain)
La vida secreta de les paraules (Spain: Catalan title)
La vida secreta de las palabras (Argentina) (International: Spanish title) [es]
A Vida Secreta das Palavras (Brazil) (festival title) [pt]
A szavak titkos élete (Hungary) [hu]
Das geheime Leben der Worte (Germany) [de]
I mystiki zoi ton lexeon (Greece) [el]
La vita segreta delle parole (Italy) [it]
The Secret Life of Words (France) [fr]

Runtime:

115 min

Country:

Spain

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

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

Filming Locations:

Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, UK

Company:

El Deseo S.A.

Trivia:

The oil rig used was the Borgholm Dolphin rig that was docked in Belfast at the time.

Goofs:

Plot holes: If an employee requires medical treatment on an off-shore installation he would immediately be evacuated off.

Quotes:

Inge: Before the holocaust, Adolf Hitler called all of his collaborators together and in order to convince them that he could get away with his plan he asked them who remembers the extermination of the Armenians? That's what he said. Thirty years later nobody remembered the million Armenians exterminated in the cruelest possible way.

Movie Connections:

References "The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo" (1964)

Soundtrack:

Pour vous aimer

Touching and smart

Two persons trying to cope with the past: a splendid Sarah Polley and (as always) a great Tim Robbins. This is a smart and very interesting film about the way we try to escape from the past: with love and with words (and with silences). I also enjoyed the rest of the characters: it is amazing how they are described with small details here and there, and you finish the movie wanting to know more about the rest of the cast. Isabel Coixet did a splendid work here of portrayal of the more inner parts of the human soul. Please check the music of the film, the selection is really good and all the songs fit brilliantly in the plot of the film.