MovieChat Forums > Nell (1994) Discussion > Her dental health is wonderful, among ot...

Her dental health is wonderful, among other things.

posted 11 years ago by ianprl
3 replies | jump to latest

That was one of the first things I processed, during my attempt to suspend disbelief, which is not completely successful yet.

To be authentic, I think she needed to be more physically affected by her isolation. The major focus of the film was the effect of her lack of socialization.

I thought the thread "Is she a feral?" might be looking at this but no, not much.

Feral humans might live in a pack of ferals, and thus be adequately socialized. I suppose a whole other movie could be made about that.

[–] Molly-31 11 years ago

This picture is about what you see not being what you think at first glance. Nell's mother was obviously neat as a pin and taught Nell to be the same. Grocery stores sell toothbrushes and soap. QED.

Oh yeah, and the post you want to see is the one titled "Problems with the movie", the discussion goes into Nell's grooming and other backstory more there.

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[–] sparklepunk 11 years ago

It also should be pointed out that people have recently said dental health in the middle ages wasn't nearly as bad as one would expect it, because they didn't eat refined sugar. I know they made mention in the movie of the fact she had never had that before when they were in the grocery store.

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[–] Molly-31 10 years ago

Unless we assume they've checked out the garbage pit and compost heap by now to see exactly what Violet was buying, this is another of Paula's big objectifying assumptions about Nell's isolation and innocence. Violet could have put candy bars on the grocery list, maybe as special treats, and just made sure the girls brushed real well.

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