New film in English in Palma tells tale of survival

THERE is finally a new film in English at the Renoir cinema in Palma “The Secret Life of Words”, which goes on general release in Spain this week, and tells the story of Josef, played by Tim Robbins, who is badly burnt and temporarily blinded in a fire on an oil rig. Spanish director Isabel Coixet believes words can wound as deeply as weapons -a theme she develops in her latest film, which offers a tender and thoughtful portrayal of how people deal with painful pasts. In the film Tim Robbins is nursed by Hanna, a partially deaf woman with a tragic secret who lives in an isolated world, retreating into silence when she needs to. Hanna is played by Canadian Sarah Polley. Despite the dark subject matter, Coixet says the film, which won plaudits at the Venice Film Festival, is also a fairy-tale. Coixet, a former advertising director from Barcelona, has won acclaim for poignant, moving films that delve into the private lives of fragile characters. “The Secret Life of Words” is her fourth feature-length movie and, like her previous film, was produced by fellow Spanish director Pedro Almodovar's El Deseo company. She says that deciding her films' titles is key. “Names are very important. As soon as I have the title, I have the story. And (the title) suits the film very well,” she told reporters in Madrid this week. “Words can hurt as much as weapons can,” she said. “Hanna tells a story about how saying “I'm sorry, I'm sorry” can be so cruel, like the worst kind of insult.” Coixet has reflected on suffering for years. As a child, she was gripped by stories about Nazi concentration camps, but what moved her most was what happened to those who survived and were released back into the world. “Nobody was waiting for them, nobody was there to tell them that their lives were going to get better ... How does someone survive that?” Coixet has built a reputation on bittersweet features with quirky titles, such as “Things I Never Told You” (1996) and “My Life Without Me” (2003). “I'm very comfortable with sadness ... I have a lot of fun suffering,” Polley told reporters. In “My Life Without Me”, Polley plays a woman who finds out she has a couple of months to live and who makes a list of things to do before she dies. Robbins is known for making films which reflect his convictions, and this is another one with a clear political element -impossible to reveal without destroying the film's final twist.