Movie Review

The Secret Life of Words (2002)

Reviewed by Gregory Kirschling | Dec 13, 2006

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EW's GRADE

B-

Details Limited Release: Dec 14, 2002; Rated: Unrated; Length: 115 Minutes; Genre: Drama; With: Sarah Polley and Tim Robbins

LIFE LINES A terrific monologue from Polley (pictured with Robbins) almost makes this film a Secret worth knowing

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Can a single scene save a movie? An hour and 20 minutes into The Secret Life of Words, Sarah Polley delivers a halting, evocative 10-minute monologue that finally unlocks the mystery behind her guarded character, a deaf, indeterminately accented nurse caring for a burn victim (Tim Robbins) on a deep-sea oil rig. Polley is mesmerizing as she raises the movie's stakes, but it comes too late. The sequence is the only highlight of an opaque film that waits too long to tell us why we should care.

Originally posted Dec 13, 2006 Published in issue #912 Dec 22, 2006 Order article reprints

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DVD Review The Secret Life of Words

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