A touching story of a deaf girl who is sent to an oil rig to take care of a man who has been blinded in a terrible accident. The girl has a special ability to communicate with the men on board and especially with her patient as they share intimate moments together that will change their lives forever.
The claustrophobic and artificial atmosphere of the setting is unfortunately matched by the equally artificial drama.
– Frank Scheck,
Hollywood Reporter,
30 Dec 2006
rotten:
What pleasure there is to be wrung from the exceptionally banal The Secret Life of Words lies in the harsh, unforgiving beauty (lyrically shot by Jean-Claude Larrieu) and wonderfully strange social life of the isolated rig.
– Ella Taylor,
L.A. Weekly,
22 Dec 2006
fresh:
There may be no young actress today better at embodying a blend of wounded innocence and stoic pride than Sarah Polley. In The Secret Life of Words, she has a part worthy of her gifts.
– Lael Loewenstein,
Los Angeles Times,
21 Dec 2006
fresh:
Though I continue to have strong reservations about the stylistic abstractions in Ms. Coixet's narrative, the performances given by Ms. Polley, Mr. Robbins and Ms. Christie take me a long way in accepting and recommending the whole package.
– Andrew Sarris,
New York Observer,
20 Dec 2006
fresh:
Like Ceylan -- like many a fine director -- Coixet has made her film less as a drama than as the traversal of a state of mind, a mood.