Nell [1995]

Nell is a poignant, emotional drama that saddens as well as inspires you; it is the kind of tearjerker in which your tears of empathy and concern are accented by a smile and sense of heartwarming joy. The story is set deep in the wilderness of western North Carolina, where an old woman has lived for years all by herself. People always thought she lived alone, at least, until she died and the local doctor discovered a pitiful woman-child hiding inside the shack, the only home she had ever known. Nell's mother had suffered a stroke many years earlier and spoke with a pronounced speech impediment; as a result, Nell speaks a tongue that is almost completely foreign to both the local doctor and the psychiatric professional he calls in from Charlotte. Dr. Lovell (Liam Neeson) becomes a guardian angel of sorts to Nell, fighting the courts and the mental health professionals to keep Nell in her native environment as opposed to being stuck in some institution where she will be treated as a lab subject. He gets three months to work with Nell himself, and his potential foe in the form of psychologist Paula Olsen (Natasha Richardson) becomes his ally in time, as they both work with Nell to learn her unique language and prepare her for a life completely unlike that which she has always known. In her own special way, Nell helps the two doctors as much as they help her, yet their ability to protect her from a dire future of lonely clinical existence remains in doubt up until the very end.

Neeson and Richardson are wonderful in their roles, but Jodie Foster is simply amazing. She had to learn a completely new, invented language as well as adopt a wide range of meaningful facial and body expressions and unique mannerisms in order to portray this "wild child" as a very real, very human individual. Nell is easily one of Foster's most impressive performances, and how she did not win an Oscar for this role is beyond me. It should also be noted that Foster produced as well as starred in this unforgettable film. The scenery, I might add in closing, is also spectacular. Filmed largely in the Nantahala National Forest in Graham County, North Carolina, a location just west of my own home, Nell is a beautiful sight to behold in more ways than one. Hollywood needs more powerful, moving films such as this.


Get out the tissues   May 17, 2003
Helen Yates (Manchester, England)
11 out of 11 found this review helpful

This is one of the most emotional films I have ever seen. Nell (Jodie Foster) and her dead twin sister were the result of a rape which led their mother to hide in the woods. There Nell and her mother lived alone, cut off from civilisation. Her mother suffered a stroke which caused her abnormal speech which passed onto Nell, who in turn created a language of her own.

When her mother dies, Nell is found by Jerome (Liam Neeson) and Paula (Natasha Richardson), the first instinct is to put her into a mental unit. But Jerome is determined to protect her and decided to learn Nell's language so she can have the freedom to say whether she stays int he woods or goes into the hospital. All this leads to a glorious climax, where the tissues definetly come in.....

This is one of the best films Ive seen in a long time. Jodie Foster was robbed and should have won a 3rd Best Actress Oscar for this film. Liam and Natasha prove themselves to be great actors but it is Jodie who shines as the vulnerable but wise woman who teaches us the goodness of not living in our sort of civilisation.


A tour de force of sensitive acting skill and direction   May 18, 2004
Roger Boon (Dundee, UK)
15 out of 16 found this review helpful

I bought the DVD of this film, which I was completely unaware of, because of the previous excellent review.Jodie Foster's performance as Nell made an almost incredible character totally believable. How she didn't get an oscar for her performance says more about the oscars than about the enormous range and empathy of this superb actress.She was assisted by a wonderful complementary and vulnerable performance from Liam Neesom and the sensitive exploration of a very difficult subject by Michael Apted. I found myself crying without immediately understanding why. I then realised that the film had plumbed the depths of my humanity to levels I did not realise existed. It confronted the question of what it is to be a fully individual human being going beyond our place in a so called civilised society to our almost instinctive spiritual responses to the natural world and to relationship. This is a truly deep and rewarding film which deserves a wide audience. My only criticism is that the transition to Nell's independence was hurried towards the end in the interests of dramatic denouement.


Another stunning Foster film!!!   November 11, 2000
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

Jodie Foster plays Nell, a woman who has never seen civilisation. The only surviving daughter of a pair of identical twins, Nell grows up in a forest alone with her mother. After being raped, Nells mother hides away in the forest and after a succession of heart traumas dies, leaving her only daughter alone and unable to communicate or live as part of a society. Liam Neeson, the local doctor, seems to be the only one who is able to communicate with Nell as Natasha Richardson fights to climatise Nell to the twentieth century. A story of a woman who just wants to live a life, but how long can secrets stay secret? The best performance Jodie Foster has ever done and definatly should have won an oscar. The real life married couple Neeson and Richardson provide a more than adequate supporting cast.


WOW!!!!   April 10, 2006
L. Mowling (Essex, England)
9 out of 10 found this review helpful

Jodie Foster has always been one of my favourite actresses and she is truly talented, but I don't think she'll ever beat her performance in Nell. I really don't know how she didn't win an Oscar! Even when she's not communicating in a language all her own, her facial expressions and bodily actions are just remarkable. If you don't cry or at least get emotional during this film, you must be dead inside.