Nell (film)
Encyclopedia
Nell is a 1994 drama film
starring Jodie Foster
as a young woman who has to face other people for the first time after being raised by her mother in an isolated cabin. The film was directed by Michael Apted
, and was based on Mark Handley
's play Idioglossia
. The original music score is composed by Mark Isham
. Foster was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award
for her role. She also won a Screen Actors Guild Award.
), finds a terrified young woman hiding in the rafters of the house. She speaks angrily and rapidly, but seems to have a language of her own. Looking at Violet's Bible, he finds a note asking whoever finds it to look after her daughter, Nell. The sheriff shows him a news clipping from which he surmises that Nell (Jodie Foster
) is the dead woman’s daughter, conceived by a rapist.
Jerry seeks the help of Dr. Paula Olsen (Natasha Richardson
), a researcher working with autistic children. Paula and her colleague Dr. Paley are interested in studying a "wild child" and Dr. Paley continues to call her this even after studying films of her which show she doesn't fit the "wild child" profile. They immediately get a court order giving them permission to institutionalize Nell for "further study". Lovell is warned just in time to get his own lawyer and prevent it. After legal maneuvering, a judge gives Olsen and Lovell three months to interact with Nell and see what her actual needs are. Paula shows up on a houseboat with electronic equipment to monitor Nell's behavior; Jerry just sits in the house and listens to Nell.
Almost immediately Paula discovers that Nell's language is English, based partly on her mother's aphasic speech after a stroke. Jerry and Paula begin a grudging friendship, although he detests her coldly clinical, analytical tactics.
Nell sleeps during the day or works inside her home, and is active outdoors only after sunset. She explains that her mother told her about the rape and warned her that men were evildoers, citing Isaiah
1:4. As Nell comes to trust Jerry, she sees him as a friend, the "ga'inja" her mother promised would come. Jerry later realizes that "ga'inja" is guardian angel. In addition, Nell leads Jerry and Paula to the remains of a young child—it turns out that Nell once had a twin sister, May, who died in a fall while the two were once playing in the woods. Nell treats May's remains with reverence and love, rather than horror.
When Jerry and Paula bring Nell into town for the first time, she befriends the sheriff's depressed wife, but also has an ugly encounter in a pool hall with some raunchy boys. Word of Nell's existence gets out via a reporter who overhears the same boys in the pool hall talking about her, which forces Jerry and Paula to spirit her away to the hospital to get her away from the press. There, Nell becomes extremely despondent and unresponsive. Jerry removes her from the hospital and hides her in a hotel. Paula joins him, and at last they admit they love each other.
At the court hearing the next day, Paula's colleague Dr. Paley, who wants to study her in a controlled environment, delivers the expert opinion that she has Asperger syndrome
and belongs in an institution. Jerry angrily interrupts several times. At last Nell comes forward to speak for herself, something even her friends didn't expect.
The last scenes take place five years later, as Jerry and Paula bring their own daughter to visit Nell in her house; it is Nell's birthday, and she is surrounded by friends from the town.
originally hired Mary Steenburgen
for the role of Nell. Foster was set to direct and it was a project to be directed by her. However, Michael Apted
preferred to direct and offered the role to Natasha Richardson
. Within a few weeks prior to production, Foster accepted the part of Nell and Richardson was cast as Paula Olsen. The role of Paula, however was originally offered to Christina Applegate
, and later to Bridget Fonda
. Nell was filmed in North Carolina including the town of Robbinsville
and the city of Charlotte
.
, Janet Maslin
noted that: "For all its technical brilliance, not even Ms. Foster's intense, accomplished performance in the title role holds much surprise. The wild-child story of "Nell" unfolds in unexpectedly predictable ways, clinging fiercely to the banal thought that Nell's innocence makes her purer than anyone else in the story." She also wished the movie would have explored Nell's adult sexuality. Roger Ebert
liked the movie, commenting that "Despite its predictable philosophy, however, Nell is an effective film, and a moving one." He also singled out the performances of Foster and Neeson. The movie currently holds a 53% on Rotten Tomatoes
.
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
starring Jodie Foster
Jodie Foster
Alicia Christian "Jodie" Foster is an American actress, film director, producer as well as a former child actress....
as a young woman who has to face other people for the first time after being raised by her mother in an isolated cabin. The film was directed by Michael Apted
Michael Apted
Michael David Apted, CMG is an English director, producer, writer and actor. He is one of the most prolific British film directors of his generation but is best known for his work on the Up Series of documentaries and the James Bond film The World Is Not Enough.On 29 June 2003 he was elected...
, and was based on Mark Handley
Mark Handley
Mark Handley is a playwright and screenwriter. He was born in Hollywood, California on March 5, 1956. He graduated from New Trier High School East in 1974. In 1977, he and his wife moved to the Pacific Northwest where they lived in isolation in a log cabin that they built themselves. He is best...
's play Idioglossia
Idioglossia (play)
Idioglossia is a play by Mark Handley about a girl who grows up without modern culture learning how to speak. It was first performed in 1992 at the George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, New Jersey...
. The original music score is composed by Mark Isham
Mark Isham
Mark Isham is an American trumpeter, synthesist, and film composer. He works in a variety of genres, including jazz, electronic, and film.-Life and career:...
. Foster was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
for her role. She also won a Screen Actors Guild Award.
Plot
When stroke victim Violet Kellty dies in her home in the North Carolina forest, the town doctor, Jerry Lovell (Liam NeesonLiam Neeson
Liam John Neeson, OBE is an Irish actor who has been nominated for an Oscar, a BAFTA and three Golden Globe Awards.He has starred in a number of notable roles including Oskar Schindler in Schindler's List, Michael Collins in Michael Collins, Peyton Westlake in Darkman, Jean Valjean in Les...
), finds a terrified young woman hiding in the rafters of the house. She speaks angrily and rapidly, but seems to have a language of her own. Looking at Violet's Bible, he finds a note asking whoever finds it to look after her daughter, Nell. The sheriff shows him a news clipping from which he surmises that Nell (Jodie Foster
Jodie Foster
Alicia Christian "Jodie" Foster is an American actress, film director, producer as well as a former child actress....
) is the dead woman’s daughter, conceived by a rapist.
Jerry seeks the help of Dr. Paula Olsen (Natasha Richardson
Natasha Richardson
Natasha Jane Richardson was an English actress of stage and screen. A member of the Redgrave family, she was the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and director/producer Tony Richardson and the granddaughter of Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson...
), a researcher working with autistic children. Paula and her colleague Dr. Paley are interested in studying a "wild child" and Dr. Paley continues to call her this even after studying films of her which show she doesn't fit the "wild child" profile. They immediately get a court order giving them permission to institutionalize Nell for "further study". Lovell is warned just in time to get his own lawyer and prevent it. After legal maneuvering, a judge gives Olsen and Lovell three months to interact with Nell and see what her actual needs are. Paula shows up on a houseboat with electronic equipment to monitor Nell's behavior; Jerry just sits in the house and listens to Nell.
Almost immediately Paula discovers that Nell's language is English, based partly on her mother's aphasic speech after a stroke. Jerry and Paula begin a grudging friendship, although he detests her coldly clinical, analytical tactics.
Nell sleeps during the day or works inside her home, and is active outdoors only after sunset. She explains that her mother told her about the rape and warned her that men were evildoers, citing Isaiah
Isaiah
Isaiah ; Greek: ', Ēsaïās ; "Yahu is salvation") was a prophet in the 8th-century BC Kingdom of Judah.Jews and Christians consider the Book of Isaiah a part of their Biblical canon; he is the first listed of the neviim akharonim, the later prophets. Many of the New Testament teachings of Jesus...
1:4. As Nell comes to trust Jerry, she sees him as a friend, the "ga'inja" her mother promised would come. Jerry later realizes that "ga'inja" is guardian angel. In addition, Nell leads Jerry and Paula to the remains of a young child—it turns out that Nell once had a twin sister, May, who died in a fall while the two were once playing in the woods. Nell treats May's remains with reverence and love, rather than horror.
When Jerry and Paula bring Nell into town for the first time, she befriends the sheriff's depressed wife, but also has an ugly encounter in a pool hall with some raunchy boys. Word of Nell's existence gets out via a reporter who overhears the same boys in the pool hall talking about her, which forces Jerry and Paula to spirit her away to the hospital to get her away from the press. There, Nell becomes extremely despondent and unresponsive. Jerry removes her from the hospital and hides her in a hotel. Paula joins him, and at last they admit they love each other.
At the court hearing the next day, Paula's colleague Dr. Paley, who wants to study her in a controlled environment, delivers the expert opinion that she has Asperger syndrome
Asperger syndrome
Asperger's syndrome that is characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction, alongside restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. It differs from other autism spectrum disorders by its relative preservation of linguistic and cognitive development...
and belongs in an institution. Jerry angrily interrupts several times. At last Nell comes forward to speak for herself, something even her friends didn't expect.
The last scenes take place five years later, as Jerry and Paula bring their own daughter to visit Nell in her house; it is Nell's birthday, and she is surrounded by friends from the town.
Production history
Jodie FosterJodie Foster
Alicia Christian "Jodie" Foster is an American actress, film director, producer as well as a former child actress....
originally hired Mary Steenburgen
Mary Steenburgen
Mary Nell Steenburgen is an American actress. She is best known for playing the role of Lynda Dummar in Jonathan Demme's Melvin and Howard, which earned her an Academy Award and a Golden Globe.-Early life:...
for the role of Nell. Foster was set to direct and it was a project to be directed by her. However, Michael Apted
Michael Apted
Michael David Apted, CMG is an English director, producer, writer and actor. He is one of the most prolific British film directors of his generation but is best known for his work on the Up Series of documentaries and the James Bond film The World Is Not Enough.On 29 June 2003 he was elected...
preferred to direct and offered the role to Natasha Richardson
Natasha Richardson
Natasha Jane Richardson was an English actress of stage and screen. A member of the Redgrave family, she was the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and director/producer Tony Richardson and the granddaughter of Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson...
. Within a few weeks prior to production, Foster accepted the part of Nell and Richardson was cast as Paula Olsen. The role of Paula, however was originally offered to Christina Applegate
Christina Applegate
Christina Applegate is an American actress. She is best known for playing Kelly Bundy on the Fox sitcom Married... with Children. Since then, she has established a film and television career, winning a Primetime Emmy and earning Tony and Golden Globe nominations...
, and later to Bridget Fonda
Bridget Fonda
Bridget Jane Fonda is an American actress. She is best known for her roles in films such as The Godfather Part III, Single White Female, Point of No Return, It Could Happen to You, and Jackie Brown...
. Nell was filmed in North Carolina including the town of Robbinsville
Robbinsville, North Carolina
Robbinsville is a town in Graham County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 747 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Graham County. Robbinsville High School is the only high school in Graham County...
and the city of Charlotte
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the seat of Mecklenburg County. In 2010, Charlotte's population according to the US Census Bureau was 731,424, making it the 17th largest city in the United States based on population. The Charlotte metropolitan area had a 2009...
.
Critical reaction
Reviews were lukewarm, praising the stars' performances while expressing disappointment in the storyline. Jodie Foster was given high marks. The Washington Posts review noted that "Jodie Foster, transcendent in the bravura title role, is far grander than the film itself, and her performance helps camouflage the weaknesses of its structure and the naivete of its themes." In her review for The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for The New York Times. She served as the Times film critic from 1977–1999.- Biography :...
noted that: "For all its technical brilliance, not even Ms. Foster's intense, accomplished performance in the title role holds much surprise. The wild-child story of "Nell" unfolds in unexpectedly predictable ways, clinging fiercely to the banal thought that Nell's innocence makes her purer than anyone else in the story." She also wished the movie would have explored Nell's adult sexuality. Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
liked the movie, commenting that "Despite its predictable philosophy, however, Nell is an effective film, and a moving one." He also singled out the performances of Foster and Neeson. The movie currently holds a 53% on Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
.
Box office
The film debuted with $5.7 million. It eventually grossed $33.6 million domestically while bringing over $73 million around the world to a total of $106.6 million worldwide.Cast
- Jodie FosterJodie FosterAlicia Christian "Jodie" Foster is an American actress, film director, producer as well as a former child actress....
as Nell Kellty - Liam NeesonLiam NeesonLiam John Neeson, OBE is an Irish actor who has been nominated for an Oscar, a BAFTA and three Golden Globe Awards.He has starred in a number of notable roles including Oskar Schindler in Schindler's List, Michael Collins in Michael Collins, Peyton Westlake in Darkman, Jean Valjean in Les...
as Dr. Jerome 'Jerry' Lovell - Natasha RichardsonNatasha RichardsonNatasha Jane Richardson was an English actress of stage and screen. A member of the Redgrave family, she was the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and director/producer Tony Richardson and the granddaughter of Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson...
as Dr. Paula Olsen - Richard LibertiniRichard LibertiniRichard Libertini is an American stage, film and television actor known for playing numerous character roles and his ability to speak in numerous accents....
as Dr. Alexander 'Al' Paley - Nick SearcyNick SearcyNick Searcy is an American actor who currently portrays Chief DeputyUnited States Marshal Art Mullen on FX's Justified. He also had a major role in the Tom Hanks produced miniseries From the Earth to the Moon as Deke Slayton....
as Sheriff Todd Peterson - Jeremy DaviesJeremy Davies (actor)Jeremy Davies is an American film and television actor. He is known for portraying the interpreter Cpl. Timothy E. Upham in the film Saving Private Ryan and the physicist Daniel Faraday on the television series Lost. He most recently appeared in the FX series, Justified, as Dickie Bennett.-Early...
as Billy Fisher - Robin Mullins as Mary Peterson
- O'Neal ComptonO'Neal ComptonO'Neal Compton is an American film and television actor.He was born Belton O'Neal Compton, Jr. in Sumter, South Carolina, the son of educators....
as Don Fontana, Lovell's Attorney - Sean Bridgers as Mike Ibarra, the Reporter
- Joe Inscoe as Judge
- Heather M. Bomba
Marianne E. Bomba as Twins - Stephanie Dawn Wood as Ruthie Lovell
- Nicole Adair as Autistic Child
- Marlon JacksonMarlon JacksonMarlon David Jackson is an American entertainer singer, dancer, former member of The Jackson 5, and elder brother of American pop stars Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson.-Personal life:...
as Male Nurse