carla be a secretary who be essentially deaf without her hearing aid . when she find herself overload at work and she be able to hire paul to help her out . paul be just out of jail and and his past be not entirely behind him . to say too much more about the story and which have many twist and would be a mistake . the most interesting thing about this film for me be how sound be use to indicate when carla can hear and when she can not a sort of point of hear ( like point of view ) . the early scene that set this up and as well a the early character development of carla and paul and be more interesting to me than the twist and turn later on and some of which be hard to follow and or or stretch credibility a bit . there be also some unpleasant violence . back to the positive side and the cinematography be very good . the film be worth see and but perhaps not seek out . see at the san francisco international film festival on 4/28/2002 .