This seems to be the year for Nicole Kidman. If it wasn’t her stunning role in the Golden Globe winning film Moulin Rouge, then it was the headlines of her breakup with second-rate, but full-of-smiles actor Tom Cruise. Now Kidman goes a step further, displaying her acting skills in the new erotic thriller Birthday Girl. The film is directed by Jez Butterworth and costars Ben Chaplin.
Butterworth teams up with brother Tom to pen a script full of surprises, erotic love, tense moments and even dark humor. But one thing that the film lacks is communication. A lack of communication exists between the characters in the film and sometimes even between the film and its audience.
Birthday Girl starts out innocently enough, as we meet the mild-mannered John (Chaplin). John is your average British chap who spreads his dull life out equally over an exciting day of working at a London area bank, an early jog and lonely nightlife. John figures he just doesn’t have time, or the guts, to meet somebody. So he turns to the Internet and a service for Russian mail-order brides. John explains this by uttering the perfect line: “Where does it say you have to meet the love of your life in the supermarket?”
Enter Nadia (Kidman), the redhead from the Red Square. Nadia struts her mysterious self right into John’s home and his boring life. It is clear that John has no idea what to do with a girl, let alone a beautiful one. Maybe the toughest part of the relationship for John is the lack of communication between him and Nadia, as she doesn’t speak English.
Somehow the pair makes it through those first quiet days and end up complementing each other nicely. The film makes a point of still not divulging the true plot, which makes one wonder: What is going on and where this movie and these characters are headed. The only true connection that we see between the characters is the kinky sex that they enjoy. Maybe John is not so boring after all.
The plot starts to develop with a shift from a guy trying to get along with his mail order bride, to the thriller that the previews proclaimed when Nadia informs John that it’s her birthday. On the night of the celebration, a couple of unexpected visitors show up. Enter Alexei (Vincent Cassel) and Yuri (Mathieu Kassovitz), old friends of Nadia from back home. Nadia wants them to stay a while and John gives in.
The visitors stay for several days until Alexei upsets Nadia, and John orders them out in the morning. The next day when John awakes, he finds that Alexei has gone berserk and is threatening to kill Nadia unless John robs his own bank. John agrees, believing that he is saving the love of his life. He soon finds out how wrong he is.
After going through with the robbery, John discovers that he has been the victim of a con by the three Russians. To make matters worse he is abandoned at a motel, along with Nadia. The criminals dump her after learning that she is pregnant. John needs to decide what he is going to do with Nadia and also how to clear his name. John needs to somehow put his dull life behind him and grab hold of the situation.
Butterworth, whose previous work Mojo was widely acclaimed, makes a worthwhile sophomore effort with Birthday Girl. He takes the first part of the film and explains the complex characters using visual effects instead of words. He barely pulls off the desired effect without losing the audience’s attention. A tad slower or a tad longer, and the effect would have been lost.
Kidman is believable in her portrayal of a Russian bride. Her language skills excell, as well as her acting. She shines in the role and is outstanding, especially during the first half of the film.
Chaplin does a worthwhile job of playing the boring then exciting John. He takes on the role to such a height that you can actucally see the change in his character by just the expressions on his face.
More than once the film makes you ask what is going on. The film confuses you at points with its lack of communication, but somehow it takes this and draws you further into the story. You want to know what’s going on, and you want to know what’s going to happen. Birthday Girl is different and will make you ponder the film afterwards, but somehow its a good kind of different. Grade: B
