Birthday Girl (2001)

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

Director:

Jez Butterworth

Writers:

Tom Butterworth, Jez Butterworth

Stars:

Nicole Kidman, Vincent Cassel, Ben Chaplin

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

Internet love connections and mail-order brides rarely ever work out, and John should have known. Having never been lucky in the game of love and tired of waiting for the perfect woman to come along, John decides to take his chances and orders a mail-order bride from Russia online. At first, things seem perfect: his new bride Nadia is a gorgeous woman, and although she may not speak much English, her skills in the bedroom more than make up for any communication problems. When Nadia's 'cousins' unexpectedly arrive to celebrate her birthday, John is drawn into their web of corruption and crime.

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Plot Keywords:

mail order bride | sex scene | tied up while barefoot | tied feet | bank clerk | 

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Taglines:

Somebody's In For A Big Surprise.

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sexuality and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English Russian

Release Date:

1 February 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

Birthday Girl

Filming Locations:

Ashridge Park, Little Gaddesden, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$13,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$2,370,809, 3 February 2002

Gross USA:

$5,142,576

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$16,171,098

Company Credits

Production Co:

FilmFour, HAL Films, Mirage Enterprises

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Shooting began in May 1999, but in July 1999 Kidman was contractually obligated to leave film Moulin Rouge! (2001) instead and production was put on hold. Eventually, the shoot was delayed again, this time for six months, because Kidman had to overcome a broken rib.

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Goofs

John confesses to 'Nadia' that his house has an ant problem, because he can't find the nest. This is because he's foolishly killing individual ants with an aerosol spray, instead of putting down ant bait. Any foraging worker which finds this 'tasty treat' will take some back to the nest while laying down pheromones. More workers follow the scent trail and so feed the poison to the whole colony, which then dies.

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Quotes

John: [first lines - to the camera] Running, reading, going out, staying in, countryside, films - if they're good. Intelligent, of course, kind, pretty - I suppose, but it's not critical. Someone you can *really* talk to. I think communication is key.

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Connections

Referenced in Jersey Girl (2004)

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Soundtracks

Memory
Performed by Elaine Paige
Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber
Text by Trevor Nunn after T.S. Eliot
Published by The Really Useful Group Ltd. / Faber Music Ltd.
on behalf of Trevor Nunn and Set Copyrights Ltd.
Recording Produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber and taken from "Cats" the original London cast album on Really Useful Records / Polydor Records
(p) 1981 The Really Useful Group Ltd. under exclusive license to Polydor Ltd. (UK)

User Reviews

A good wife. A good husband. An excellent film

Are you a giraffe?... ask John to Nadia, and she, sure of responding well, responds him: yes. In this way begin the communication between a man and a woman who don't know each other, and at the same time, the questions and doubts in "Birthday Girl". A film that i heard a lot of times, but i don't dare to see... until two hours of write this.

"Birthday Girl" is a passionate movie that makes me fall in count, at the same time, that Nicole Kidman is one of the best actress (Besides she is pretty and intelligent) that i have ever seen. "Birthday Girl" is the story of a lonely and routine man who looks for a wife at internet. The woman that he finds comes from Russia. She seems to be that delicate woman, normal, not more. One day, in her birthday comes suddenly, his cousin and his friend. The man, begin to discover certain things. Since here, he don't going to be the lonely and routine man that always have been.

Much of us going to think that this movie is just a regular one with a exploited plot. Much of us going to think that the action and thrills are sure and don't novel. But "Birthday Girl" is just the opposite. This movie is full of good surprises, good performances and a imaginative plot that i had never seen and imagined. This romantic thriller with certain funny touch is an excellent natural film with a lot of proposes for the films of it kind. "Birthday Girl" have certain beauty and crudeness in its scenes, but at the same time, certain touching nature, and makes it so deeper.

"Birthday Girl" is sometimes sad, sometimes funny, sometimes violent, but at the end, is totally satisfactory. And I'm not sorry in say that this is a masterpiece.

*Sorry for the mistakes...well, if there any.