The Secret Life of Words

THE SECRET LIFE OF WORDS follows Hanna, a factory worker who lives alone in a barren apartment, wears a hearing-aid and keeps to herself with a rigorous daily routine of identical meals, a fresh bar of soap every day, and needlepoint work at night. While on an extended holiday in Northern Ireland, she volunteers as a nurse, tending to a burn victim Josef stationed on an oil rig. While Hanna coaxes him back to health, Josef, who has suffered temporary blindness, reaches out to her urgently, wanting to connect. As his brutish and passionate demeanor contrasts sharply with Hanna's solemn and quiet manner, Hanna initially refuses to reveal anything about herself, even her real name. But soon she starts to recognize parallels between her own isolation and that of the others on the oil rig. She eventually grows to care for Josef and shares with him a painfully severe secret from her past that opens wounds and doors, for the two strangers from different worlds to come together and heal one another. Director Isabel Coixet Star Sarah Polley, Tim Robbins, Javier Camara Special Features: Widescreen.