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I haven't seen or read the play 'Idioglossia' on which this movie was based, but its title indicates where the emphasis was probably placed... on the attempt to communicate and understand this woman who was raised under extraordinary conditions. Movies don't usually thrive when done in the same tight, focused manner of a stage play, so it's customary to expand adaptations with additional locations, events, and subplots. Unfortunately for 'Nell' these are utterly conventional, filled with stereotypes and a sampling of the usual cliches. This takes time and attention away from the fascinating core story and the superb performance by Jodie Foster.The story begins with the discovery that a reclusive old woman has died and has left a grown daughter alone in their remote cabin. Originally she is thought to be a "wild child" since she doesn't understand English and only utters what sounds like gibberish. Besides that, her behaviour is very peculiar and everyone's first impression is that she is also somewhat retarded, if not mentally ill.But the movie and Foster display an understanding of their subject matter almost unique in a Hollywood movie. A true "wild child" (that is, a child who grows up isolated from human contact without learning a language) pretty much never can learn to speak normally or function independently in society. But this isn't the case for Nell. She lived with her loving mother all her life and did indeed learn to speak as any child would. It's just that the language we hear her speak is unique to herself (the definition of 'idioglossia') which was caused by a couple of different circumstances.Her mother had suffered a stroke (if I recall correctly) which drastically affected her own ability to speak clearly, and this was the model for Nell's own speech, never having heard any other. Nell also had a twin sister who died when they were children. Typically twins develop their own language ("twin speech") to talk to each other when they are very young. Also typically they tend to outgrow and forget this language as they grow older. The movie postulates that Nell and her sister never discarded their language, not implausible considering their circumstances, and that Nell retained into adulthood much of that language even after the death of her sister.The final elements of Nell's seemingly odd behaviour is simply a matter of a clash of cultures. Nell and her family were essentially a people unto themselves, living in isolation and out of contact with the rest of society. Some of their customs and beliefs were generated from the traumas suffered by the mother, others spontaneously arose from simply living the life they were leading. These seem peculiar to outsiders from our own, very different, culture; though it's just ordinary life to Nell. Even more peculiar is the outside world to Nell. The shock and recoil that she often undergoes comes from being suddenly confronted by inexplicable, unimagined, and overwhelming events totally beyond a lifetime's experience and coming directly on the heels of the death of her mother.When the movie centers on these elements it is entirely engrossing. Foster is fully convincing in her role, and clearly understands the complex nature and history of Nell. Despite everyone's first impressions, Nell is never anything but an intelligent adult woman confronting a strange and often hostile world, and attempting to adapt to it as best she can. Her interactions with Neeson's and Richardson's characters are often complex and traumatic enough to keep the film moving in the absence of the other, extraneous, elements.Had the movie concentrated more intently on this interaction and devoted more time to it, which is really the whole point of the film, or had it done a better and more original job of expanding it's vision during it's adaptation to film (those parts involving the sheriff's wife showed unexploited potential), 'Nell' could have been a great film. Certainly the superb cinematography shows one of the great advantages of film over the stage. But there was too much time spent on weak scenes for the movie to ever fully blossom. So overall, despite its flaws, 'Nell' is a good film with many fascinating elements and an excellent performance by Jodie Foster. And that makes it well worth watching.
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