Taciturn and partially deaf Hanna (Sarah Polley) is a Yugoslavian woman working in a factory in Northern Ireland. She is forced to take a vacation by her boss, who tells her that her co-workers have been offended by her lack of socializing. After overhearing a conversation about a need for a nurse, she takes on a job as private nurse for burn victim Josef (Tim Robbins). He is bedridden on an offshore oil rig after a fire on the rig, and has severe burns and is temporarily blinded. Hanna talks very little, and especially does not want to talk about herself. Despite his pain, Josef is constantly making jokes, some of them humorous sexual advances. As they get closer, they start sharing their experiences. Unbeknownst to him, she listens over and over again to a message on his cell phone from a mysterious woman who was in love with him. Eventually Josef confides to Hanna his greatest secret guilt, and she tells him about her previous life in the former Yugoslavia. She describes in detail the horrors she endured during the Balkan Wars. Josef is not getting better, and at Hanna’s initiative he is air-lifted off the oil rig to be taken to a hospital. When the helicopter lands, Josef wants Hanna to accompany him, but she walks away without a word. However, she leaves behind enough information to give Josef a chance to find her. After he recovers, Josef travels to Denmark to visit a counselor Hanna went to after fleeing the war, seeking to learn more about her. He then tracks her down at the factory in Northern Ireland where she works…

Director

Isabel Coixet

Born 9 April, 1960 in Sant Adrià de Besòs (Barcelona, Spain) is a Spanish film director. She received a History M.A. at University of Barcelona and has worked as a journalist and director for several television advertisements. In 2000 she created Miss Wasabi Films, a production company in charge of the development of several documentaries. Creative director of JWT, founder and creative director of the agency Target and the production company Eddie Saeta, she has done several ads for the brands: British Telecommunications, Ford, Danone, BMW, Ikea, Evax, Renault, Peugeot, Winston, Kronenbourg, Pepsi, Kellogg, MCI, Helene Curtis, Procter Gamble, Philip Morris and the Fundación Once, amongst others. She is a public supporter of the Spanish Socialist Worker’s Party and made several advertisements for television during the 2008 Elections. Member of the jury at the Berlin Film Festival in 2009, Coixet, along with Bigas Luna, are selected to be in charge of the exhibit at the Spanish World… read more

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Sean

5Mar13

Secret Life Of Words is slow moving and nicely directed by Isabel Coixet. Sarah Polley is the one major thing that stands out in this film, watching her was powerful, how she keeps her emotions hidden and how quietly she speaks, very guarded because her past haunts her. Can't believe she wasn't nominated for this role, further proof that the Academy overlooks brilliant actors like her.