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The Secret Life of Words

7.0

28,771

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Original title

La vida secreta de las palabras (The Secret Life of Words)

Year

2005

Running time

120 min.

Country

Spain

Director

Isabel Coixet

Screenwriter

Isabel Coixet

Cast

Music

Various

Cinematography

Jean-Claude Larrieu

Producer

El Deseo, Mediapro

Genre

Drama. Romance | Psychological Drama. Disease/illness. Disability. Blindness

Synopsis

An isolated spot in the middle of the sea. An oil rig, where all the workers are men, on which there has been an accident. A solitary, mysterious woman who is trying to forget her past (Sarah Polley) is brought to the rig to look after a man (Tim Robbins) who has been temporarily blinded. A strange intimacy develops between them, a link full of secrets, truths, lies, humour and pain, from which neither of them will emerge unscathed and which will change their lives forever. A film about the weight of the past. About the sudden silence that is produced before a storm. About twenty-five million waves, a Spanish cook (Javier Cámara) and a goose. And, above all else, about the power of love even in the most terrible circumstances.

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Rankings Position

#100 Best Spanish Movies of all time

Awards: 2005: 4 Goya Awards: Best Movie, Director, Original Screenplay, Art direction

2005: Forqué Awards: Best Film

2006: Ariel Awards: Best Latin-American Film

2006: European Film Awards (EFA): nominated to Best Actress.

2006: Forqué Awards: Best Film (Live-Action or Animation).

2006: Sant Jordi Awards: 2 awards.

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Critics' reviews

"Carries an important and timely reminder about the fate of torture victims, so deftly wrapped within a touching and beautifully acted melodrama that the result is the furthest thing from a didactic message movie."

Ken Fox: TV Guide
"Yes, 'The Secret Life of Words' owes much to Lars von Trier's 1999 'Breaking the Waves.' But Coixet's riff stands on its own thanks to thoughtful performances by Polley and Robbins."

V.A. Musetto: New York Post
"A tantalizing and beautiful picture made with tremendous integrity, and anchored by two marvelous performances, Isabel Coixet's The Secret Life of Words still, somehow, doesn't quite work."

Andrew O'Hehir: Salon
"Given the physical limitations of their characters, Polley and Robbins give remarkably compelling performances"

Jack Mathews: New York Daily News
"The claustrophobic and artificial atmosphere of the setting is unfortunately matched by the equally artificial drama."

Frank Scheck: The Hollywood Reporter
"A compellingly claustrophobic drama set mostly aboard an oil rig."

Jonathan Holland: Variety
"The exquisitely coordinated performances elicit an empathy as powerful as anything I can remember feeling in a recent film."

Stephen Holden: The New York Times
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Ranking Lists Position

26 My Top 10 Movies from 2005 (127)

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The Secret Life of Words

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