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List Price: $9.98 | | Label: Fox Home Entertainment
Salesrank: 6552
Released: February 3, 2004 |
| Our Price: $4.45 |
| Used Price: $4.00 |
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
When doctor Jerry Lovell (Liam Neeson, Oscar - nominee for "Schindler's List") discovers a young woman living alone in the backwoods of North Carolina, he is intrigued by her erratic behavior and unique pattern of speech. Together with a psychologist (Natasha Richardson), Lovell determines to pierce Nell's private world and protect her from the courts - and a life of scientific study. In a race against time and a system bent on shattering her spirit, he finds that the woman whose way of life he has sought to protect, has transformed his own forever.
Description of Nell:
This film is an intelligent examination of an easygoing doctor (Liam Neeson at his teddy bear best) and his discovery of Nell (Oscar nominee Jodie Foster), a woman who was raised in the woods with no human contact except her speech-impaired mother. The movie covers a familiar "fish out of water" story unlocking Nell's soul (by deciphering her incomprehensible language) and then taking her into the modern world. What makes Nell special is the earnest work by Neeson, Natasha Richardson (as an uptight psychologist), and a rich, small array of supporting members (journeyman Nick Searcy as the town sheriff is marvelous). At its center is another extraordinary job by Foster, who also produced. Director Michael Apted (Thunderheart) brings his regular load of realism into the picture, set aglow by luscious camerawork (by Dante Spinotti) in the hills of North Carolina. Through lyrical speech and gesture, Foster makes you believe she's in another woman's body, akin to Jeff Bridges's work in Starman, a marvelous sight to behold that powers the movie. Written by William Nicholson (Shadowlands) and Mark Handley, based on Handley's play Idioglossia. --Doug Thomas
Nell Reviews:
A tour de force of sensitive acting skill and direction 
2009-11-27 -
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.
Nell 
2009-09-24 - My wife is a real Jodie Foster fan. I bought this at her request and she is pleased. It's a good story and well acted.
Nell
2009-09-11 - My husband and I love the movie but we would have rather had it in full screen instead of wide screen. I could get no help what so ever in trying to secure a full screen movie. Very disappointed in that aspect of it. Otherwise the movie is excellent.
Possibly the best of Jodie Foster
2009-08-17 - This is a favorite movie, and I was pleased to find it for such a reasonable price. Shipping was quick and there were no billing problems. My 18-year-old son has been showing it to all his friends (mostly girls) and they all love it. I was very glad to have found it on your site.
Nature / nurture?
2009-06-21 - Nature / nurture is typically the foundation of all debates in the realm of psychology. Are good & bad people inherently so? Or are they shaped by their environment? If it is a combination of both, what is the ratio? And, the beat goes on.....
This is a movie which explores that topic to some degree. Jodie Foster plays a young woman (Nell) who has been raised in almost absolute seclusion from the rest of the world. She has her own language which she uses from the garbled words of her grandmother who had a speech-impediment. She knows nothing of the world beyond the cabin where she lives, and she's afraid to go outside during the daytime.
Liam Neeson & the late Natasha Richardson portray a physician & a shrink, respectively. They both have the best interests of Nell in mind & end up in an unlikely alliance to look out for her. After all, being exposed to a big city is an unnerving & stressful thing for a young lady that has only known the peace & tranquility of the forest all her life.
It goes without saying that it's absolutely painful to see Natasha Richardson with the man who was her real-life husband. She is so very beautiful & full of life; it's a tragedy that she was taken from us too soon. It is little wonder that Liam Neeson fell in love with her; while watching this movie, I did as well!
Word to the wise: this is a fairly slow-moving and subtle film. It's about a woman experiencing the "real world" for the very first time. Jodie Foster fans will rejoice in the fact that this is perhaps the finest performance of her career in what was likely the most difficult role she ever chose to undertake.
