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Nell | Year: 1994 Classification: Drama Directed: - Michael Apted Actors/Actresses: - Jodie Foster - Liam Neeson Oh Nelly! Nell is an earnest and slightly soporific drama about a doctor's inadvertant discovery of a wild child in the remote hills of North Carolina. Jerry Lovell (Liam Neeson), a rural MD is dispatched to confirm the death of a hermit-like mountain lady and is quick to discover a cantankerous, violent, and unintelligible young woman, obviously the old woman's unacknowledged daughter,hiding in the cabin rafters. Lovell is immediately captivated by Nell (Jodie Foster) and is soon joined by career-climbing psychologist Paula Olsen (Natasha Richardson) in attempting to decode the mysterious woman's gibberish-filled rages. Before you can say "Wapner at 5:30," this hillbilly rain woman's past becomes brutally clear: her mother, a victim of rape in her youth, had given birth to the child but kept her a secret from the the world for thirty years; Nell has been taught that men and daylight are harmful, and her language is the product of imitation after her mother's stroke. The sentiment here is laid on thick. Nell is harrassed by those stereotypical movie rejects, scientists and red necks. The scientists want her brought in for study; the red necks want to play a little doctor (Can you say Deliverance?) There are a number of nice scenes portraying the bonding between the three leads, and the direction by the talented Michael Apted is sensitive and well-intentioned, but Nell suffers by asking us to shed too many unearned tears. In this regard, most damaging is the lack of key exposition. We never really get to know Nell. Her mystery, while at first quite interesting, loses its novelty by the time they take the wide-eyed country girl to the big bad city. The biggest roadblock has to be Jodie Foster. Her pagan-like emoting as she dances naked through the woods is two stations short of hamville. It's like she wants us to believe so desperately in Nell's tragic story that she has to use a few neon signs to show us the way. Thanks, but I think we can handle it ourselves. Neeson is more effective, and he and real-life wife Richardson do a nice job of counterbalancing Foster's excess in the role of Nell's surrogate ma and pa. Painfully cliche; unintentionally hilarious Nell is a clunky drama about two psychologists (Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson) who study and befriend a young woman Nell (Jodie Foster) at her lakeside log cabin. A product of potentially disturbing family circumstance that this film promptly glosses over, Nell speaks her own language and was raised basically without civilization. Of course, Nell proves to everyone in a bombastic climactic courtroom scene that she is in fact more civilized than so-called modern society. She frankly states in 'nellish' that modern men and women don't look each other in the eye, avoid genuine communication, and possibly every other unoriginal complaint about contemporary society. Yet, it all seems a bit absurd since Nell is clearly an ideal product of such a society- she's compliant, fun-loving, clean with Aryan good-looks, and can even play matchmaker! When she hooks up her doctors, the movie officially becomes about Neeson and Richardson gettin-it-awwwn and loses any facade of insight into the human condition. Whatever it had was facile to say the least though as it ignores the scary, violent, sexual, and basically id-centric depths of human nature. Time and time again, Nell comes across like a domesticated pet- one that desperately needs to be put down. This is a great movie for women, men and parents! This is a wonderful, wonderful movie. And it is a great test of a relationship. Women, if your boyfriend or fiance is unwilling to watch this movie, or is not moved by it, dump him immediately and save yourself years and years of pain. If you are already married, get marriage counseling. Guys, this is a great movie. Even if you prefer action movies to chick flicks, the woman you are with will be totally moved by the movie and that you watched it with her. Parents, this is also a great movie for teenagers. Nell, played by Jodie Foster, has had no contact with anyone other than her now dead mother, so she has no sense of shame about her body. She is as free as a three year old in taking off her clothes to go swimming at night. Therefore, while there is nudity, there is no sexuality. And the nudity is not exploitive. (This is like the nudity you used to find on the pages of old National Geographics on articles about Africa.) On the balance, the sensitivity outweighs concerns about nudity, this may even be a way to spark conversation with your kids about puberty, etc. Buy Nell at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on Nell Search with the Priority Search Engine on Nell This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
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