The Secret Life of Words

On an oil rig lost in the midst of the sea where only men work, a fatal accident occurs: one of the men is badly hurt and is affected by blindness.A solitary and mysterious woman, intent on forgetting her past, is sent to look after him.A strange kind of intimacy begins to develop between the man and the woman, a bond made of secrets, truths, lies, humor and pain, from which neither will come out unscathed, a bond that will change their lives forever. The Secret Life of Words is a film about the weight of the past, about silence, about a Spanish cook and a goose and about the power of love even under the most awful circumstances.
Screening Schedule

No physical screenings scheduled.
Script: Isabel Coixet
Cinematography: Jean Claude Larrieu
Editing: Irene Blecua
Sound: Fabiola Ordoyo
Music: Aitor Berenguer
Actors: Sarah Polley (Hanna), Tim Robbins (Josef), Javier Camara (Simon), Sverre Anker Ousdal (Dimitri), Steven Mackintosh (Dr. Sulitzer), Eddie Marsan (Victor)
Production: El Deseo
Producers: Agustin Almodovar, Jaume Roures
Co-production: Mediapro (Spain)
Costumes: Tatiana Hernandez
Format: 35mm, Color
Production Country: Spain
Production Year: 2005
Duration: 112

Isabel Coixet

Barcelona-born Isabel Coixet is one of Spain’s most prolific and award-winning directors, with 15 feature films, seven documentaries, and ten Goya awards – the most ever for a female filmmaker in Spanish cinema. Recognized internationally, she has received the National Cinematography Award (2020), France’s Medal of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres (2015), and the Academy of European Cinema’s Honor Award (2023). Her English-language debut, Things I Never Told You (1996), was followed by her breakthrough My Life Without Me (2003) and the acclaimed The Secret Life of Words (2005), which won four Goyas. She later contributed to Paris, Je t’aime (2005), and directed Elegy (2008), Map of the Sounds of Tokyo (2009), Learning to Drive (2014), Nobody Wants the Night (2015), The Bookshop (2017), Elisa y Marcela (2019), Foodie Love (2019), and most recently Un amor (2023). Her documentaries include Invisibles, Journey to the Heart of Torture, Talking about Rose, Listening to Judge Garzón (winner of the Goya for Best Documentary), Marea Blanca, and El Sostre Groc (2022), which reopened a landmark sexual abuse case in Catalonia. Beyond cinema, she founded Miss Wasabi Films to support emerging female directors, writes for XL Semanal, contributes to El País and Elle Gourmet, and hosts a weekly music program on Spain’s national radio.

Filmography

1989 Too Old to Die Young
1996 Things I Never Told You
2003 My Life Without Me
2005 The Secret Life of Words
2008 Elegy
2009 Map of the Sounds of Tokyo
2013 Another Me
2015 Nobody Wants the Night
2017 The Bookshop
2023 Un amor
2025 Three Goodbyes