The Barbed Wire Setting

The protagonist Nell attains an unyielding sense of place in her constructed environment and thus is unable to successfully connect to larger society. To fulfil her desire to belong she surrounds her cottage with barbed wire. The close up shot of the wire illustrates to the audience that extreme actions are undertaken to create an atmosphere in which she can belong. The barbed wire indicates that intruders aren’t allowed to enter her surroundings as they could severely impair her sense of place, thus highlighting that indeed belonging and place are intrinsically linked.

Once the hermit is discovered by social workers, she becomes confronted with a range of people and situations she never knew existed, as she had an inextricable bond to her