The Secret Life of Words

Robbins is a fine and resourceful actor, but the tiny Polley towers over him here....the monologue can't fully compensate for the film's narrative disjointedness.....There may be no young actress today better at embodying a blend of wounded innocence and stoic pride than Sarah Polley.....Far more convincing is Julie Christie, in a small but pivotal part as a social worker who played a key role in Hanna's past.....Polley drew international acclaim as an accident victim in Atom Egoyan's 1997 "The Sweet Hereaf ... Full Review

In due course skeletons will march out of closets, but the movie yields up its secrets with slow reluctance.....The Secret Life of Words lies in the harsh, unforgiving beauty and wonderfully strange social life of the isolated rig..... ... Full Review

A bitter irony because it's one of the most remarkable films I've seen in 2006.....While subtly applicable to developments of the story, it's terribly awkward and likely to keep people --....He assures her, with humor....even arthouse patrons who would appreciate it --....This film may well add another notch on that belt of less accessible intrigue.... ... Full Review

gradually softening towards her, culminating in Hanna's daunting litany of misery, reminiscent of Ingrid Bergman's big scene in For Whom the Bell Tolls , squared for horrific effect.....manages a real romantic fervor towards Polley in the final scenes..... ... Full Review

But the film takes a few missteps: there's a narration fore and aft that muddies the waters, and a few scenes following the cathartic climax of the film felt earnest and unnecessarily expository, even if they did star the unassailably great Julie Christie. ... Full Review

Coixet's script has the feel of a extremist soap opera, with moments of extreme discomfort....They both make these scenes so captivating....In technical aspects, there is nothing wrong with the film..... ... Full Review

The Secret Life of Words lies in the harsh Unsmiling, pathologically private, and all but wordless, deaf factory girl Hanna (Sarah Polley) uses an enforced vacation to volunteer as a nurse on an oil rig in the Irish Sea, where she tends to Josef (Tim Robbins), a badly burned worker with enough fight left in him to flirt with his enigmatic attendant and try to coax her out of her strategic silence. ... Full Review

if they did star the unassailably great Julie Christie.....The performances by Polley and Robbins are rock solid;.... ... Full Review

The film is totally inconsequential....Polley has a bad accent, but never mind that.....this film won't mean business, which is topped off with Robbins' ridiculous capper to a bad anecdote about why he can't swim..... ... Full Review

Hence, The Secret Life of Words, which thinks it's dealing with important material but merely uses it for questionable melodramatic effect. The film is totally inconsequential but seems to think that it's of world-historical importance, and it only makes it more ridiculous when it tries to tell you how crucial it is that you listen. ... Full Review