I have seen many movies that Nicole Kidman has been in. There are some that I haven’t seen, but I do like her. I have thought that she was talented for a long time now. I’m glad to see that she is finally getting recognition. The last few years haven’t been the best for her in her personal life, but she has done very well professionally, appearing in several successful movies. Birthday Girl was a smaller movie that she was in that didn’t do as well at the box office. I decided to see it mainly because of Nicole Kidman being in it. The movie was a bit different, but I enjoyed it.

PLOT

John was a single man living in England. He was a banker. He was lonely and wanted to get married. He couldn’t meet any women, so he contacted a company called From Russia With Love and ordered a mail order bride. He was looking forward to her arrival.

Nadia arrived, but she wasn’t exactly what John had been expecting. She could only speak a few words in English. She got sick on the way back to his place. John tried to contact the company, but he only got a recording. He left many messages saying it was a mistake because Nadia couldn’t speak English. He was planning to send her back to Russia. He didn’t tell anyone that she was there and he kept going to work like normal. Nadia did some things around the house and spent a lot of time knitting something with red yarn.

One day while John was at work, Nadia started looking around the house, going through things. She found his secret stash of kinky porn movies and magazines. Nadia looked through the magazines and watched the movies. John was mortified when she set them in the middle of the table that night. He wasn’t mortified anymore when she let him know that she was willing to do the things that were in the magazines and movies.

John and Nadia settled into a relationship. They were getting along all right even though they didn’t speak the same language. They continued to have sex. John didn’t get the promotion he had been hoping for, but he was given the keys to the vault. One day Nadia let him know that it was her birthday. That evening he had a cake for her. They were getting ready to eat it when two men showed up at the house. Nadia was happy to see one of them. John was very confused because he had no idea what was going on. One of the men, Yuri, could speak English. He said that he was Nadia’s cousin and that the other man, Alexei, was his friend. Yuri said that Nadia had known he was coming, but she didn’t know how to tell John since she didn’t speak English. Yuri translated so that John and Nadia could share some things with each other.

Yuri and Alexi stayed with John and Nadia for a while. Nadia seemed to be a little uncomfortable around Alexei at times. John decided it was time for them to go. The next morning he got up to find his home in chaos. Alexei did not like being told to leave and he seemed to have flipped out. He decided that he wanted John to do something. John did it, thinking it would protect Nadia. He then discovered that Nadia had some secrets. John ended up on the run with Nadia, and his life turned up side down.

CAST

Nicole Kidman - Nadia
Ben Chaplin - John
Vincent Cassel - Alexei
Mathieu Kassovitz - Yuri


Jez Butterworth - Director

Written by Tom and Jez Butterworth

Birthday Girl was made in 2001 and rated R for some language, violence and sexual situations. The movie was 93 minutes long. It is available on VHS and DVD. I rented the DVD version of the movie. There were some extras on the DVD, but I didn’t get a chance to check them out. This is not a movie for children to see.

Birthday Girl was unique and a bit different, but it was good. I enjoyed it. The movie was probably too different for some people. Some people may be offended by the fact that John enjoyed bondage movies and magazines. Not much of either was shown, but after finding them, Nadia let John know that she was willing to act out those things. John’s preferences in porn were brought up again later in the movie. That didn’t play a huge part in the movie, but it was in there. I did think that the plot dealing with a man getting a mail order bride and the consequences of that decision was interesting.

Birthday Girl was a slower paced movie. It got off to a slow start as John prepared for Nadia’s arrival. Once she was there, things still moved along slowly as they adjusted to each other and settled into their relationship. The slower pace of the movie reflected the slower life that John had been living before Nadia arrived. There really wasn’t a whole lot going on before Yuri and Alexei arrived. Once that happened, the pace of the movie did pick up a bit as more started to happen. John had to deal with having a woman he couldn’t communicate with and then have two strange men arriving with no warning. A lot more happened after Yuri and Alexei arrived. John’s life was all turned around, and he was doing things that he probably he imagined doing. Nadia had a few secrets that were revealed. Yuri and Alexei even had a secret that came out. There was a twist or two that happened later in the movie. I wasn’t bored by the movie, but some people may find it boring or lose interest in it since it took a little while for the movie to really get going.

There was some violence in a few scenes of Birthday Girl. A few scenes did get rather violent suddenly. It was a bit disturbing for the movie to turn so violent so fast in those few scenes. There was fighting and some shooting in those scenes. Overall, this wasn’t a violent movie, but some people could be offended by the violence that turned up in a few scenes. There was some action later in the movie in one or two scenes, but this wasn’t an action-packed movie.

There were some sex scenes in Birthday Girl. There weren’t that many of them, but some people could be offended by them. Bare skin was shown a few times. Nicole Kidman’s bare behind was shown a few times, but she wasn’t shown nude from the front. The sex scenes weren’t that explicit, and most were in some sort of shadow, so not that much was really shown. John liked bondage porn movies and magazines. Nadia discovered the magazines and movies. She looked at the magazines and watched the movies. There were a few glimpses of the pictures from the magazines and scenes from the movies shown, but that was it. Other times, it was hinted at that John and Nadia were going to do. Nadia let John know by her actions that she wanted to do some of the things from the magazines and movies, but it didn’t show them doing those things. A bit later, it showed John tying Nadia to the bed, but it didn’t show what they did after that. A lot was left to the imagination of the viewer. People who are offended by sex scenes, or by the type of porn John liked may want to avoid this movie.

The acting in Birthday Girl was good. Ben Chaplin was believable as a man who was going through some major changes in his life. John did some unconventional things that had some consequences. At certain times during the movie, I could tell what Chaplin was feeling from the expression on his face. I saw him in Murder by Numbers last year. That role was different from the one he played in this movie. The role of Nadia was different from other parts that Nicole Kidman has played. Nadia didn’t say much during the movie. She did speak in Russian at times. It sounded ok to me, but I don’t speak Russian, so I don’t know how accurate it or her accent was. Since she didn’t talk much, Kidman had to use her actions and expressions to convey the thoughts of her character. I thought that she did a good job with that. Her face was very expressive throughout the movie.

CHARACTERS

John - He had been working at a bank for ten years. He was recently given the keys to the vault. He had a quiet, boring life. He was lonely and wanted to get married. He choose an unconventional way to find a wife by getting a mail order bride from Russia. Things didn’t go like he had planned though. His life was thrown into chaos. He didn’t seem to like change that well, but he adapted to what was going on.

Nadia - She was John’s mail order bride from Russia. She was only able to speak a few words in English. She took care of things around the house and cooked for John. She accepted his life of bondage magazines and movies and even did those things with him. She had some secrets that caused John a lot of problems when they came out.

I did like Birthday Girl. It was different, but it entertained me. People who like different movies may also like this one. Fans of Nicole Kidman should give this one a look. People who don’t like her should probably avoid this movie.

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Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age