Directed by: Isabel Coixet
Written by: Isabel Coixet
Starring: Sarah Polley, Tim Robbins
IMDB page & official trailer:
movie girl:
I like words. The title of this movie made me curious, but at the same time I didn't have high hopes, titles like this are often an expression of wishful thinking or are so sublimated that, after a while, you don't remember them - because they don’t relate so tightly to the content of the movies.
At first, I had the feeling of a Nordic dystopia – lots of grey, plastic, uniforms, order, and lack of emotion. But then I realized that it is a dystopia, but it is the main character's (Hanna, a foreigner) point of view on the world. The horrors she's been through (as we find out later) have made her insensitive to life’s pleasures. She lives with her secret (maybe that weird voice that intervenes in the movie is a personification of it) and totally in the present – no fears, hopes, plans, no relation to the future.
What troubles Hanna's quiet life is the necessity for her to take some time off from work. So she flies to some vacation destination and on her first day there takes a surprising opportunity to spend her time differently: as a nurse on a platform out at sea, for a man who had suffered injuries after a fire.
On that platform, the atmosphere is very interesting. There are only a few men, most of them lonesome guys, escaping different realities – not fitting in the society, having families with many children and responsibilities and gay tendencies, being unable to influence environment policies to stop waters pollution, love for a friend's wife etc.
Though Hanna and the crew share the need for reclusion, there is a contrast between them. She is cold, they are warm. This warmth gets to her, mostly thanks to Josef (the one she's taking care of) and, though she returns to her arid life, she later melts and decides to trust Josef and to give happiness a chance.
What I liked about this movie was the "ecosystem" of the platform. I also appreciated Sarah Polley’s acting. Hanna's story didn't touch me so much and Tim Robins's character really annoyed me most of the time because he was a sentimental childish reactive guy.
Rating: 6,0
movie boy:
Even though you can predict its ending, this movie is playing with your feelings from the start till the end. The story will surprise and drive you through a mix of powerful emotions and intriguing human nature.
The movie evokes the realationship between Hanna (Sarah Polley), a deaf factory worker in search for a holiday and Josef (Tim Robbins), the man she will instead start taking care of on a sea oil platform.
I especially liked the Josef character, a sort of scamp, a guy who despite his situation, keeps his slightly obscene, yet funny humour. His relationship with Hanna is like demolishing a wall brick by brick, a quid pro quo with the purpose of nourishing his curiosity by freeing her from herself.
In parallel with their story, the other characters on the oil platform will embody different needs and aspirations as they would be trying to recreate a world they have left, surrounding themselves with life, art and memories.
This is a sensitive movie, where the words are carefully selected, portraying strong images and having their role in a process of healing. It is true that freeing them will set you free but it is also true, that despite deafness, there are some you will always hear only inside your head.
Rating: 6,5
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