Few films have the power of The Secret Life of Words. It’s a bit of an anomaly, a Spanish film, shot in Ireland and featuring Eastern European and American protagonists. Hanna (Sarah Polley), an Irish factory worker, seems to do little more than exist. She works, sits apart at lunch and eats rice, chicken nuggets and apples, and does little else. Forced to take a holiday, she overhears a conversation and volunteers to nurse burnt worker Josef (Tim Robbins) on an oil rig on the North Sea. What follows is beautifully evoked by director Isabel Coixet. Hanna is initially withdrawn and silent, refusing to tell Josef or any of the others on the rig about herself, but eventually, in the isolated environment, her shell begins to crack and we learn more about her as the film progresses. Josef and the other characters, each superbly drawn and acted, have their own surprising secrets which, like Hanna’s, twist to the surface and make the film at once subtle and compelling. At the climax is Hanna’s confession; harrowing, shocking and pressingly made. If you see only one film this year, make it this one. The only thing the film made me regret is how rare it is for a filmmaker to get it so achingly right.
ISABEL COIXET