Birthday Girl (2001)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Jez Butterworth

Writers:

Tom Butterworth (written by) &
Jez Butterworth (written by)

Release Date:

1 February 2002 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

Before They Share A Future, They Have To Survive Her Past.

Plot:

A thirtysomething bank clerk from St Albans has his small-town life exploded by the arrival of his Russian mail-order bride.

Plot Keywords:

Mail Order Bride | Internet | Russia | Black Bra | Bank Teller

Cast

Nicole Kidman	...	Sophia, alias Nadia
Ben Chaplin	...	John
Vincent Cassel	...	Alexei
Mathieu Kassovitz	...	Yuri
Kate Lynn Evans	...	Clare (as Kate Evans)
Stephen Mangan	...	Bank Manager
Alexander Armstrong	...	Robert Moseley (as Xander Armstrong)
Sally Phillips	...	Karen
Jo McInnes	...	Waitress
Ben Miller	...	Concierge
Jonathan Aris	...	D.I. O'Fetiger
Katya Barton-Chapple	...	Young Sophia
Rebecca Clarke	...	Bank Colleague
Mark Gatiss	...	Porter
Raj Ghatak	...	Bank Colleague

MPAA:

Rated R for sexuality and language.

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English | Russian

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:M18 (re-rating) | Malaysia:18PL (uncut version) | Malaysia:U (cut version) | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:IIB | Netherlands:12 | Peru:14 | Singapore:R(A) | South Korea:18 | Spain:13 | Switzerland:14 (canton of the Grisons) | UK:15 | USA:R | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Philippines:R-18 | Finland:K-15 | Iceland:12

Filming Locations:

Ashridge Park, Little Gaddesden, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Company:

FilmFour

Trivia:

No actor in the movie actually speaks Russian, nor does the director.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When John knocks out Alexei with the guitar it clearly misses by quite some distance and doesn't break.

Quotes:

Nadia: You can't hurt me more than I'm hurt already.
John: Well, Nadia, if it's all the same to you, I'd like to give it a bash.

Movie Connections:

References Gran Turismo (1998) (VG)

Soundtrack:

Sugar and Spice

Strange

I had never even heard about "Birthday Girl" before i borrowed it on DVD from one of my friends. The cover said "Thriller" and i guess that was what i expected, especially considering the quite dark tone set by the front of the cover. When the movie started though i was a bit surprised...

And i guess i'm not the only surprised by this. It seems the film-makers themselves are almost surprised by the change of styles that happen about half-way into the movie. It begins as a light comedy, turns darker and then ends on an almost comical note. All the way through i found the darker parts hard to accept because of the silly beginnings.

I don't know the background here myself. This movie doesn't seem like the usual big-budget things you would expect to see Nicole Kidman. The fact that she speaks Russian in most of the movie is also something unexpected. Sometimes i feel that this is maybe the point of the whole movie. An experiment where Nicole Kidman, Vincent Cassel and Mathieu Kassovitz speak Russian as a prop? If that is the case it's not enough by far to carry this movie.

I can't say that i was bored with "Birthday Girl" really. It was entertaining enough most of the time. But the ambiguous moods of the film disturbed me. I find it very hard to take the serious parts seriously when there is comedy right around the corner. Somehow it takes the edge of. It would have been better to choose a style and stick with it. Also the stereotypical Russians (played by french actors) are a tired concept. A movie that is not painfully bad, but easily forgotten.

5/10