Nell's Twin Sister
Didn't Nell have a twin sister...who had died? What did the twin die of? I don't think it ever revealed how.
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MovieChat Forums > Nell (1994) Discussion > Nell's Twin Sister
She drowned. Nell and her had that game where they jumped into the water from the rocks, and she jumped in one day and drowned.
shareactually if you look closely she probably fell off the cliff and wound up with a fractured skull.
shareThey jumped off the cliff to land in a pile of leaves. Nell still does this as an adult. Since in Nell's recollection by the stagnant swimming pool in the motel, we see May walk into the water and disappear, I always assumed she drowned.
shareKinda difficult to say, but I have to agree that she may have drowned. However, how did those bones get up that cave? Did Nell put her sister there? Although this was a cave near a waterfall.
shareWhat would make sense to me, as we can see at the beginning of the movie when Nell has this remarkable mortuary ritual with her mother (wash and dressing, flowers on eyelids), is that a similar ritual had taken place when the twin sister drowned (if she did). Someone who drowns in a river or lake doesn't necessarily disappear at the bottom, and given the peaceful appearance of the water, the body might have been recovered easily.
It could be assumed from the natural and innocent way of life that the mother and daughters had, that burying the body in the ground would have been sonsense to them, as Nell seems to be used to go and visit her sister to stroke her skull and put flowers in the empty eye cavities. It looks like some sort of tribute. That would explain the location of the remains of the boby in a hidden yet accessible place... Well, that's at least my explanation. I like it when the unexplained bits of a movie, guessed or assumed, can come to a logical explanation... But in these cases, one person, one logic!!
I think you're right about the idea that Violet and Nell -- especially Nell -- would not have wanted to dig a grave for May. We've seen how important it is to Nell to preserve the idea of contacting May and playing with her. "And Nell will call May, and Nell and May -- yes, Nell and May -- will be trees in the wind." Violet must have reassured Nell with "yes, Nell and May" long after May was gone.
I wonder if Violet went into town and bought that mirror so that Nell could "see" May and not be so upset. Intellectually, Nell knew that was herself in the mirror (since she'd have seen Violet and other objects in the room reflected in the glass) but she could comfort herself by thinking that was how she could communicate with May.
There are hints in this part of the story of an ancient Japanese legend about a country girl who gets a hand mirror from her dying mother, who says "if you want me after I'm gone, look for me here" -- because the girl looks just like her mother. At the time, a mirror was fancy, big-city stuff, and country people didn't usually have such things, so the girl assumes it is really her mom. She keeps the mirror forever. Having her mom always near in this way helps her to re-enact her mother's good qualities.
The use of dull reflections in the laboratory where Nell wastes away is very astute on the part of the director.
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That came from the original shooting script, which is also the version used in the novelization, so I'm familiar with Mi'i. In the novel, Paula speculates that Mi'i could be "Millie," but you never find out, as you said. But Foster clearly says "May" all the way through the film. The clue is that she refers to herself as "Nell", not as me or I (until the very end, where she uses "I" in the courtroom), then says "everyone goes away -- Jerry and Paula..." (she starts crying a little) "and Ma, and May." That's what makes me think her sister's name is May.
shareI think the body was taken by the current and deposited in the nich. Even calm looking rivers and streams can have deadly undercurrents and eddys that could EASILY overcome a little kid.
As a former Fast Water Rescue Team member, I can tell you WE didn't go nolens volens into moving water without precatuions...
"They sucked his brains out!"
I saw this film for the first time last night and loved it.
Sometimes its difficult to glean what exactly is going on in a movie, but I think 'May' did drown, it was sad to see that five years later Nell still missed her sister so much
Nell's sister was around 6-10 when she died and when the movie starts, Nell is in her early to mid '20s.
It would be so nice if something would make sense for a change.
Alice in Wonderland
I watched this in school & call me crazy but I thought it was hinted that the sister never died. I found it strange the way the Sheriff's wife reacted to Nell, & the way Nell reacted to the Sheriff's wife. Her name is Mary. Nell takes consonants out. Mary=May. They do look very similar, don't they? is it possible that Mary was taken away & from Nell's view she just disappeared, & then some bones showed up... leading her to guess that her sister had died? I guess it's pretty far-fetched. It was just my first reaction to Mary & Nell's interactions. Did anyone else wonder about this? Am I just crazy?
shareI actually watched it today for the first time and I only came around about an hour or so in, around the time they took Nell into town and she wandered into the bar.
I didn't really know who that woman was when the Sheriff showed up with her, but I found it very strange how she was looking off towards the cabin and was so comforting towards Nell, and even how her husband asked her whether she wanted to go with him or stay in the car as if it would be difficult for her. And yes they did look very similar to one another. So you're not crazy guitarchick08, I agree with you.
They show May's body in a cave. We KNOW she died, although with out that scene, I would totally agree with you that Mary is her sister.
shareI don't think it's nutty either. There have been a couple of threads on this board suggesting that Mary is another daughter of the rapist who attacked Violet.
Let's just say that God doesn't believe in me.
browneyedgirl and molly, 1st off, I have watched this movie several times since it's release, and just watched it tonite at 3am. Mary was seen sitting in the sheriffs car in town when Nell was taken into town. They looked at each other from their cars and mouthed something to each other. I think Nell saw something troubling in Mary's eyes as did Mary in Nells.....like they understood each other. That was the second time we saw the sheriffs wife. The first time was when she had an 'episode' in the beginning of the picture when we first saw that the sheriff and the doctor knew each other. And were probably friends.
Secondly, I think to assume that Mary is anything more than the sheriffs wife is a stretch....too far off the beaten track for me.
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