Nell is a 1994 American drama film directed by Michael Apted from a screenplay written by William Nicholson. The film stars Jodie Foster (who also produced) as Nell Kellty, a young woman who has to face other people for the first time after being raised by her mother in an isolated cabin. Liam Neeson, Natasha Richardson, Richard Libertini, and Nick Searcy are featured in supporting roles. Based on Mark Handley's play Idioglossia, the script for Nell was developed by co-producer Renée Missel and was inspired by Handley's time living in the Cascade Mountains in the 1970s, and the story of Poto and Cabengo, twins who created their own language.

Plot

When Violet Kellty, who had an undiagnosed stroke, dies in her secluded cabin in the North Carolina mountains, Dr. Jerome "Jerry" Lovell, the town doctor, discovers a frightened young woman hiding in the house rafters. She speaks angrily and rapidly, but seems to communicate using a unique language. While examining Violet's bible, Jerry finds a note instructing whoever discovers it to care for Violet's daughter, Nell. Sheriff Todd Peterson shows Jerry a news clipping revealing that Nell was conceived through rape. Jerry seeks assistance from Dr. Paula Olsen, a researcher specializing in autistic children. Paula, along with her colleague Dr. Alexander "Al" Paley, is interested in studying a "wild child" (feral child), although Al persists in labeling Nell as such despite evidence to the contrary in filmed observations.