Isabel Coixet, Isabel Coixet, I must remember that name. I didn’t remember before, and she directed Talk to Her. I’d of thought I’d remember . . . truth is, it’s seldom I remember a great many names and titles these days.
I am certain I rented The Secret Life of Words for the wrong reasons unless simply loving words is cause enough. I’m also certain that I thought it was going to be a Will Short sort of documentary with interesting takes on crossword puzzle people or Scrabble fanatics or Spelling Bee participants. What a surprise to find what I found. Since watching Tim Robbins and Sara Polley and others play out their roles in a dismal factory and then on an oil rig, I checked out existing reviews; I wanted to know if the impact the movie had on me had worked to similar effect on others. Apparently, a few found the work as worthy as I do, but the majority found it ”slow” and the characters “unbelieveable” or was it “unconvincing.” Personally, I applaud the director’s choice to slow down the events and allow the mudlike existence of the main character, Hannah, to become less screen role-ish and more real. There is a perfection to this timing, this slow (and almost strangled) re-emergence into some semblance of living again. I really don’t know how to write movie reviews at all, but I wanted to share with anyone who might stumble upon this blog that The Secret Life of Words is so worth watching IF you are into movies that enter your mind and occupy it with lives and how they are lived. I am always blown away by people valuing people — and that happens in this flick.
I agree that the absence of any contrived sense of progression (motivated by tension or mystery) makes this film an intense experience. It’s as if you get caught up both in the mystery and the suspence without having to be gratified: I felt throughout that I could wait forever to understand the characters since I would like to see their privacy respected.
The inclusion of the tragic duo living a seperate life on the rig than the one at home; the creative, underappreciated chef; the completely unglamourous but extravagantly passionate oceanographer; the strangely silent cleaner set apart by colour and introvertedly content; and the portly, intensely perceptive old Swede… The film is so rich you would choke on it if it went any faster!!!
Nikki Haupt — I have only just found your comment on The Secret Life of Words and wanted to say [ten months after the fact!] I couldn’t agree with your view any more than I do. Reading your comment made me want to watch the movie again! Thanks.