Microsociology of Secrecy in The Secret Life of Words, or Isabel Coixet reads José Luis Pardo

Abstract

Sociology of Secrecy points out the ability of secrets to join people regardless the word originally means “separation”. Mostly, secrets are shown as destructive faults we should confess. “The Secret Life of Words” (2005) by Isabel Coixet is a movie which depicts how secrets are shared as intimacy, building a bubble made of words. In fact this is the specific sense of intimacy according to José Luis Pardo. It is not loneliness or isolation, is not the duty of expliciting inner information about us. Intimacy is not the denotative meaning of the words, but their connotation, what words “smuggle” between two people: the secret life of words. Finally, keeping in mind the strong implication of secrecy in Social Space-Time, we will try to outline several useful analysis elements through this film.