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The Secret Life of Words

  • 2005
  • Not Rated
  • 1h 55m
IMDb RATING
7.4/10
13K
YOUR RATING
Tim Robbins and Sarah Polley in The Secret Life of Words (2005)
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.
Play trailer1:30
1 Video
47 Photos
DramaRomance

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.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.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.

  • Director
    • Isabel Coixet
  • Writer
    • Isabel Coixet
  • Stars
    • Sarah Polley
    • Tim Robbins
    • Sverre Anker Ousdal
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.4/10
    13K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Isabel Coixet
    • Writer
      • Isabel Coixet
    • Stars
      • Sarah Polley
      • Tim Robbins
      • Sverre Anker Ousdal
    • 59User reviews
    • 65Critic reviews
    • 68Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 25 wins & 15 nominations total

    Videos1

    Trailer
    Trailer 1:30
    Trailer

    Photos47

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    Top cast19

    Edit
    Sarah Polley
    Sarah Polley
    • Hanna
    Tim Robbins
    Tim Robbins
    • Josef
    Sverre Anker Ousdal
    Sverre Anker Ousdal
    • Dimitri
    • (as Sverre Ousdal)
    Javier Cámara
    Javier Cámara
    • Simon
    Danny Cunningham
    • Scott
    Dean Lennox Kelly
    Dean Lennox Kelly
    • Liam
    • (as Dean Lenox Kelly)
    Daniel Mays
    Daniel Mays
    • Martin
    Emmanuel Idowu
    • Abdul
    Eddie Marsan
    Eddie Marsan
    • Victor
    Steven Mackintosh
    Steven Mackintosh
    • Doctor Sulitzer
    Julie Christie
    Julie Christie
    • Inge
    Reg Wilson
    Reg Wilson
    • Factory Manager
    Leonor Watling
    Leonor Watling
    • Josef's Friend's Wife
    Daphne Brown
    • Old Lady on Bus
    Muriel Hobson
    • Old Lady on Bus
    Joshua Miligan
    • Child
    • (as Joshua Milligan)
    Sheelagh Smith
    • Child
    Nina Marléne
    • Director
      • Isabel Coixet
    • Writer
      • Isabel Coixet
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews59

    7.413.4K
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    Featured reviews

    katkat00

    What a wonderful movie

    I have seen the movie and I have to say its just beautiful, no its not the slow, easy going romantic love story....it is difficult, critical and poetic. there is no action, its just about those 2 people, who are lonely, and experienced things in their lives nobody could imagine. this movie makes you think, think about your life, about your love about the world.

    i can recommend it to everybody, who likes little quiet movies, which touch you go watch it, the 2 main actors are brilliant. sarah polley plays here role, with a heartbreaking truth, tim robbins (susan sarandons husband) does a great job as well.
    8abeldiaz

    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.
    9efewebber

    Secret's Poetry

    I went to see this last Isabel Coixet's movie three hours ago and its beautiful and powerful story is still bouncing in my head... the sea, Tim Robbin's eyes, Hanna's beautiful voice and her intense way of holding her feelings, Simon's delightful food in the middle of nowhere..

    The way it is conceived is somehow simple, a mysterious woman, in my opinion extremely well resolved by Sarah Polley, happens to arrive to a remote place where a bunch of loners have just had a deep dramatic experience. As explicitly mentioned in the movie, 'God makes them..' ('Dios los cria'.., in Spanish), and so as she gets there she expands and relaxes in this environment where no one really expects anything from anybody.

    The takes are so beautiful, the thousand different feelings that the same isolated landscape in the middle of the sea projects through the movie is unbeatable. The cast of characters is solid, and the supporting characters are developed enough so as to allow the viewer to understand, in basic terms, what brought them there.

    Finally, the use of Tom Waits for the final transition is sublime! but, yeah, how could it not be? Tom Waits's music is the music for these films where the very deep of the heart is at stake.

    So, yes, I do recommend this movie for anyone who cares or wants to care or would like to be able to care about people who have been profoundly wounded at some point. And this, I am afraid, hopefully includes you. Thanks Isabel.
    9slake09

    Good and Underrated

    Great performances, an original idea, good script - it's just a great movie, which nobody I know has seen.

    I have no idea why this one didn't get better distribution, it certainly deserves it. The little quirks of the characters liven up the story, as does the interaction between Polley's disturbed nurse and Robbin's rough patient. Although you could see the ending coming a mile away, that was fine, as it seemed that was what was supposed to happen.

    This is a good one when you're in the mood for a somewhat dark drama with romantic overtones. The romance doesn't get too much in the way of the drama, the drama doesn't go overboard into melodrama.
    8paulscofield68

    Remarkable independent film

    Those of you who have seen Isabel Coixet's first film- My Life without Me- shouldn't miss this one. Like that film, this has a tragic-romantic essence at its core. A very well-written script, with a handful of themes, superbly acted, and direction/editing/score/soundtrack all good to very good (at times excellent). Dense, literate, and increasingly absorbing. By no means your mainstream action flick; yet this movie should find a large audience in those who like 'independent films' (or 'European', for Americans). Filmed in Ireland (much shot indoors), and entirely in English. A very satisfying drama- I found it even better than 'l'Enfant', which took top prize at this past Cannes Film Festival. Both are highly recommended...enjoy.

    Best Emmys Moments

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    Related interests

    Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)
    Drama
    Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca (1942)
    Romance

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • 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
      If an employee requires medical treatment on an off-shore installation he would immediately be evacuated off.
    • 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.

      Josef: I'll learn how to swim, Hanna. I swear, I'll learn how to swim.

    • Connections
      Referenced in Mr. Nobody (2009)
    • Soundtracks
      Forever Now and Then
      Written by Eef Barzelay

      Performed by Clem Snide

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    FAQ20

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • October 21, 2005 (Spain)
    • Countries of origin
      • Spain
      • Ireland
    • Official sites
      • Mongrel Media (Canada)
      • Official site (Spain)
    • Languages
      • English
      • Danish
    • Also known as
      • La vida secreta de las palabras
    • Filming locations
      • Bilbao, Bilbao, Vizcaya, País Vasco, Spain
    • Production companies
      • El Deseo
      • Hotshot Films
      • Mediapro
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $5,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $20,678
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $5,309
      • Dec 17, 2006
    • Gross worldwide
      • $6,410,058
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 55m(115 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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