THE SECRET LIFE OF WORDS

Spain, 2005, 115 minutes, Colour.
Sarah Polley, Tim Robbins, Sverre Anker Ousdal, Javier Camara, Danny Cunningham, Dean Lennox Kelly, Daniel Mays, Eddie Marsan, Steven Mackintosh, Julie Christie, Leonor Watling.
Directed by Isabel Coixet.

The Secret Life of Words is a very fine film, one that can be recommended.

The story is original, revealing something of the post-traumatic stress of people who suffered the war in the Balkans in the 1990s, especially the women and the victims of rape. This theme has been treated in a number of films, most significantly in the film Grbavica.

Sarah Polley portrays a deaf woman working in a factory. However, it soon appears she is a trained nurse and during an enforced vacation from the factory (where people complain that she does not communicate), she overhears someone wanting a nurse to go to an oil rig. The victim of burns on the rig is played by Tim Robbins in a very sympathetic role. He cannot see and she reveals very little about herself. However, gradually a rapport grows between the two. There are only a few people on the rig after the accident which caused the burns, Dimitri the manager, Simon the Spanish cook (played by Javier Camara who was so effective as the central character in Talk to Her – with Leonor Watling who is also in a small role in this film – and Bad Education). Daniel Mays portrays the meteorologist on the rig. Steven Mackintosh is the doctor. There is a cameo role by Julie Christie, very effective, as the psychiatrist who treated the young woman for her traumas.

The dialogue is quite powerful at times, especially in the scenes where the two central characters are able to relate their stories, Robbins with a father who is dominating, failed relationships and betrayals, Sarah Polley most moving in the descriptions of what happened to her in the Balkans.

Isabel Coixet My Life Without Me, about a cancer victim, also played by Sarah Polley. Other films include Elegy and Map of the Sounds of Tokyo. However, this film seems to be her best.

1. The title, the voice-over (and the mysterious identity of the speaker)? Words and silences? A film of words, a film of silences? Communication and non-communication? Revelation?

2. The opening on the oil rig, the fire? The later explanations of the suicidal man? The consequences for Josef, trying to rescue him, being burnt? The oil rig itself, the building, the interiors and exteriors, the vistas of the sea? The contrast with the factory where Hannah worked? The score, its range, the final song – and the music of Tom Waites?

3. The introduction to Hannah, her work in the factory, hard work, alone, deaf, turning the sounds off? Not mixing with the others? Her simple meal of rice and nuggets, the apple? The repetition? The interview with her boss, the workers’ complaints, the union? His praising her high standard of work? Suggesting a holiday, offering the brochures? His earnestness? Hannah’s reaction, going home to her flat, considering the possibilities?

4. The portrait of the sympathetic boss and his trying to handle the situation well, for Hannah’s wellbeing?

5. Hannah travelling, the bus, the ladies chatting and talking about Jean- Claude Van Damme? The hotel, her anger in the room, pulling the bed to pieces? Quietly in the café, overhearing the man talking on his phone, her offering her services, his agreement? The explanation of the job, the driving the car, Hannah’s reaction, less communication? The helicopter, arriving on the rig – the separation of the rig from the mainland, the isolation, the sea?

6. The personnel on the rig, the manager and his discussions with Hannah? The Spanish cook, his friendliness, his work, his skills? The two workers, their relationship, married background, sexual? The black man? The doctor, welcoming her? The bonds between the people on the rig, their sense of aloneness and isolation, their jobs and their future? The concert? The meteorologist and his measuring the impact of the waves? His isolation?

7. Hannah and Josef, the explanation of the task, their meeting, her attitude, silent, his questions, not being able to see, her not giving answers? Her attentiveness, the pan, the food, listening to him? Forming a basis for the relationship? Gradual understanding, mellowing? Her own isolation, eating the meal on the steps, moving towards the group? Her chats with Simon? Talking with the manager?

8. Josef and his suffering, the cook bringing the food, the welcome, his being upset? Hannah asking for the helicopter to take him to a hospital?

9. Josef and his stories, his books, the gift of the book to the wife of his best friend, the betrayal, the story of his father and the swimming, the dropping in the water, his attitude towards his father, his father’s callous attitude towards him? Not being able to swim?

10. Hannah revealing her story, her training, the Balkans in the 90s, the war, her passionate story, her friend, Josef listening, weeping, consoling her? The troops, her own soldiers, the rape experience, the young man and his apology, her friend and her suffering and death?

11. The result, Hannah as deaf, bitter? Her ringing her counsellor but not saying anything on the phone? The counsellor thinking this was enough and glad that the contact was made?

12. Seeing Josef off, going back to her work in the factory?

13. Josef’s recovery, having Hannah’s bag, going to Copenhagen to meet the counsellor, the personality of the counsellor, her impassioned speech about the war, the victims, genocide? The parallels with Armenia? The impact of the story of the Balkans, the survivors and their guilt? Giving Josef the cassette, his not wanting to watch it?

14. Josef going, finding Hannah, her resistance, giving her the bag, her seeing the scars on his face? The acknowledgment of love?

15. The happy ending, her life, love, commitment, children?

16. The voice-over of the inner child, relinquishing life to the adult and healed Hannah?

17. The topical issues, the aftermath of the 20th century and its genocides? The powerful sense of humanity?