| Nola Carveth | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Nola Carveth | |
| Aliases: | Nola Kelly |
| Notability: | Supporting character |
| Type: | Mother |
| Gender: | Female |
| Location: | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Associations: | Somafree Institute |
| Relations: | Juliana Kelly Barton Kelly Frank Carveth Candice Carveth |
| Status: | Deceased |
| Born: | Unknown |
| Died: | 1979 |
| Introduction: | The Brood |
| Actor: | Samantha Eggar |
Nola Kelly Carveth is a fictional mental patient and a central character featured in the 1979 feature film The Brood. She was played by actress Samantha Eggar in the film.
Biography[]
Nola Kelly hailed from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She was the daughter of Barton and Juliana Kelly. It is believed that Nola tremendous physical and emotional abuse at the hands of her alcoholic mother. Her father, also an alcoholic, was too weak of character to intervene and allowed the abuse to continue.
As an adult, Nola largely repressed the memories of her abusive childhood. She married a man named Frank Carveth and gave birth to a daughter named Candy. Nola's mental instability finally came to light when Candace was a young child, and it led to Frank and she being separated. She was remanded to the care of the Somafree Institute and became a patient of Doctor Hal Raglan, who used fringe science techniques to treat his patients.
One of Doctor Raglan's techniques involved something he called psychoplasmics, which caused a variety of abnormalities including welts on the skin. With Nola, psychoplasmics also induced pregnancy, and she began giving birth to a multiple deformed children. These deformed children escaped from Somafree and raided the Kelly household, first murdering Nola's mother, and eventually her father as well. The children then abducted Candy and brought the child back to Somafree.
Frank Carveth began investigating the murders of his in-laws, and came to realize how it was all traced back to his ex-wife. Doctor Raglan began to realize what was happening as well, and transferred all of Somafree's patients except for Nola to another facility.
Frank and Raglan searched the area and Raglan was beset upon by the mutant children. Frank found Nola just as she was birthing another child through psychoplasmic stomach growing out of her stomach. The child was covered in blood and Nola licked the deformed infant clean. Repulsed by this, Nola reacts angrily and threatens violence towards Candice. Claiming she'd kill Candy before letting Frank take custody of their child.
The children filled with Nola's rage begin to attack Raglan and then aim to kill Candy on her command. Frank attempts t tell her they are listening to her commands. But she either doesn't understand, listen or just no longer cares. And baits Frank to kill her to make them stop. Frank attacked Nola and strangled her to death. He then rescued Candy from the other children and escaped.
Notes & Trivia[]
- The character of Nola Carveth was created by writer and director David Cronenberg.
- David Cronenberg cast Samantha Eggar to play the role of Nola Carveth due to her resemblance to his ex-wife, whom he had only recently divorced from.
- In 1989, actress Samantha Eggar reunited with David Cronenberg at the Sitges Film Festival where she told him that "The Brood was the strangest and most repulsive film I've ever done". [1]
- It is implied that Nola's daughter Candy inherited the same physiological phenomenon as her mother after she began developing lesions on her skin. Candy's is most likely an affect or allegory for her trauma she's received from her mother and her abusive nature.
- Its never fully stated if Nola understands what the children are doing or not. Though Raglan claimed she didn't.
- Actress Samantha Eggar only worked on the film for four shooting days.
- Samantha Eggar came up with the idea to lick the blood off of the newborn baby. The fetuses attached to Eggar's body were actually stuffed condoms.
Explicit content[]
- Female topless nudity: Nola Carveth's right breast is briefly exposed during the climax when she raises her arms into the air.
External Links[]
References[]
- ↑ Rodley, Chris, ed. (1997). Cronenberg on Cronenberg. Faber and Faber. ISBN 0571191371.
Keywords[]
Births | Canadian | Children | Disfigurement | Female topless nudity | Mental patient | Mother | Mutant | Ontario | Toronto