Gently compassionate work describes the unusual relationship between a hearing impaired, anti-social nurse and the burn victim she takes care of on a desolate oil rig. It is a slow character piece which takes a little while to settle into any sort of admirable rhythm, though by the end older viewers should be thankful they were patient. To call the script underdeveloped would be a little unfair; there are plenty of details thrown in to keep a mild level of interest, but not until the final act does the film really offer anything of substance.
Until then we still have the strangely involving lead performance of Sarah Polley, painfully alluring in a way few stateside actresses can manage, commanding attention in a difficult role. Her foreign accent may sound generic, but she more then makes up for any dialect shortcomings with a brooding, subtle characterization which serves to keep viewers interested in learning what she is really all about. Polley still has not received the attention she deserves, and The Secret Life of Words only continues to prove her loyalty lies in her craft and not to her popularity or finances. She stars opposite Tim Robbins who plays the burn victim she begins to treat. Robbins, who has been on the decline as of late, does a decent job here. His main requirement is to lay in bed and wince from pain, so it is achieved fairly easy; the majority of emotional content falls on Polley's minimalist nuances.
Until a late-act explanation is provided to justify Polley's extreme behavior, the movie is a difficult one to gauge. It often feels that until that point the filmmaker relies on protracted ambiguity to fill out a running time. The oil rig location is appropriate and occasionally shot in an impressive way but for the most part is not really taken advantage of. Rightfully so, the intimate focus upon these two principal characters dominates Isabel Coixet's work, but it will only be late into the film that you will realize why. A slow, underwhelming relationship movie that redeems itself with a powerful finish.
Until then we still have the strangely involving lead performance of Sarah Polley, painfully alluring in a way few stateside actresses can manage, commanding attention in a difficult role. Her foreign accent may sound generic, but she more then makes up for any dialect shortcomings with a brooding, subtle characterization which serves to keep viewers interested in learning what she is really all about. Polley still has not received the attention she deserves, and The Secret Life of Words only continues to prove her loyalty lies in her craft and not to her popularity or finances. She stars opposite Tim Robbins who plays the burn victim she begins to treat. Robbins, who has been on the decline as of late, does a decent job here. His main requirement is to lay in bed and wince from pain, so it is achieved fairly easy; the majority of emotional content falls on Polley's minimalist nuances.
Until a late-act explanation is provided to justify Polley's extreme behavior, the movie is a difficult one to gauge. It often feels that until that point the filmmaker relies on protracted ambiguity to fill out a running time. The oil rig location is appropriate and occasionally shot in an impressive way but for the most part is not really taken advantage of. Rightfully so, the intimate focus upon these two principal characters dominates Isabel Coixet's work, but it will only be late into the film that you will realize why. A slow, underwhelming relationship movie that redeems itself with a powerful finish.