"Nell" (1994)

"Nell" Movie Poster

I first heard about this movie when I was in one of my Communication Studies courses a few semesters ago. Dr. Tracy had assigned us to read a particular chapter from Rebecca Ann Lind's "Race/Gender/Media: Considering Diversity Across Audiences, Content, and Producers." When I started reading, the example that the introductory paragraphs discussed was "Nell." The descriptors intrigued me because it was about a young woman who lived in the backwoods of North Carolina who came up with her own language. Yet, I haven't watched the movie until now. I didn't realize the Longwood library even had the movie until about a week ago.

The movie stars a young Jodie Foster, her first major movie appearance since the mega 1991 hit "The Silence of the Lambs," along with Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson.

This movie was based on the play "Idioglossia" by Mark Handley.

In the opening scene, there is an aerial flyover of sorts, taking you over blue mountains, lush green forest and a deep blue river shining in the early morning sun. A spooky-sounding woman's voice is heard, singing some sort of song but with no music. But the words are not really words; they are difficult to make out beyond child-like syllables and jumbled gibberish. As the flyover focuses on one part of the mountains, the engine of a motorcycle grows in volume. We then see a man riding a red motorcycle around a curve of the highway cut into one of the hills and forest.

As real music is heard, the scene switches to hands threading and then tying another person's black bootlaces. The scene goes back to the man on the motorcycle as the highway gives way to dirt trail, and making a right turn into the woods. The person's hands who were tying the bootlaces is now setting tortoiseshell combs into a woman's gray hair.

The man is still on the trail but heading ever-deeper into the woods. The trees and brush slow his pace every so often, but he continues on, with a determination to find his destination, no matter how far away from civilization he is. Then the scene changes back to the hands, where one pair is washing the other with water and a yellow sponge. As these scenes switch back and forth, the man is still making his way to his destination in the woods, while the pair of hands continues to prepare the older-appearing woman for the day, including smoothing her hair and placing a daisy bloom across her skin.

Finally, the man on the motorcycle stops at a place next to the rolling river, with bright sunshine illuminating the water, trees and surrounding scenery. He dismounts the motorcycle and grabs a cardboard box off the back, full of what appears to be groceries with Quaker Oatmeal, rags and other household supplies. The man walks a few feet and then puts the box on the ground. A leather change purse lays there, and he picks it up and takes the money out to pocket it. As he turns around to leave, weird sounds from behind him catches his attention, according to the dumbfounded look on his face. We see a dilapidated wooden cabin in the distance, surrounded by trees, almost completely secluded and swallowed by the forest. He turns around to face the cabin, his expression changing to astonishment with a hint of puzzlement, as he walks toward the cabin with the box, which appears that he has never approached the cabin before.

He walks hesitantly up the steps, as we see a screened porch overgrown with vines and clutter everywhere. He knocks softly on the entrance frame. The music changes to the spooky, danger-alerting kind of music that you probably hear in any horror movie. He calls out the name of the woman hesitantly as he slowly walks toward the entrance of the cabin. As he slowly looks around the corner and knocks again, he calls out "Ms. Kellty" once more. We see an overview of the primitive kitchen, before the view pans to the woman lying on her back on the floor, dead. As the man comes for a closer look, the woman is dressed in a pale blue dress, black boots and has two daisies covering her eyes. At this, the man runs out of the house and is seen riding away on his motorcycle, likely to go find help.

After the opening scenes, we are introduced to a doctor attending to an elderly man. As he walks out of the house talking to the man's daughter, a Sheriff's Department SUV pulls up with a honk, the driver saying, "Been looking all over for you, Jerry!" as he walks toward the road and the waiting vehicle. This is the first instance of Dr. Jerry Lovell (Neeson). As the SUV heads toward the mountains, Sheriff Todd Peterson (Nick Searcy) tells Jerry that Billy Fisher (Jeremy Davies) found her. "He delivers the groceries out there. I guess she's what you'd call a hermit." As the focus shifts to their faces, the Peterson continues, "She talks kinds funny too. Kinda like, duh, ooh, ma." Jerry responds,"You try talking out of one side of your face." The sheriff says, "Oh, you've seen her then?" Jerry says, "Only once."

As the two men cover up the dead woman's body and look for evidence, Jerry asks if no electricity, no phone, no running water is real. "She lived here all alone?" Jerry muses. The sheriff responds, "That's what hermits do, Love. They live alone and they die alone." As Jerry walks along the rocks out to a calm spot near the middle of the river, Todd calls out, "OK we're done here! Let's get back to civilization!" when Jerry appears resigned about having to leave this beautiful place of nature.

Jerry yells that he'll catch up as he goes back through the cabin. As he is musing over the now-opened packages of oatmeal and dry milk, he hears what sounds like footsteps above him. Discovering a set of stairs, he climbs up to a full-length oval mirror and what appears to be a bedroom. As he looks in the reflection over a mirror, the spooky music starts up again. Jerry continues to slowly look around, he finally sees in the mirror a young woman's bare leg, accompanied by a white dress or nightgown, her dark face covering her face as she is huddled in a corner of the room. She is hanging on to the rafter as Jerry whirls around to look at her, as she emits the strange noises that Billy heard earlier. Here, we are first introduced to Nell (Foster).

As the movie progresses, Nell, though a young woman, is child-like because she cannot speak like others. She expresses herself initially through anger and violence towards Jerry, but eventually warms up to him as his visits increase. Jerry wants to protect her from a life of laboratories and research studies, but he is at a loss about what to do with Nell. However, Jerry meets Dr. Paula Olsen (Richardson), a Charlotte, North Carolina psychologist.

I was captivated throughout the entire movie, a total of 113 minutes. The actors are brilliant with their roles, flawless in their characters. I highly recommend the movie, and the review for the original "Idioglossia" play can be found here.

I can't decide which one of two movies to review for next week, so I'm asking you readers to give me feedback. I'm deciding between "The Onion Field" and "Permanent Record."

Stay tuned until next week! As always, I welcome any comments, questions and movie suggestions! Thanks for reading!

-Laura Beth :)