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 Norton	...	Bank Colleague (as Rebecca Clarke)
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:

She's nothing he ever expected and everything he's always desired.

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sexuality and language

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film's cast includes all the members of the League of Gentlemen as well as comedy duo Miller & Armstrong.

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Goofs

John refers to England as an island. Most of England is on one island, the island of Great Britain, but this is shared with Scotland and Wales.

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Quotes

Nadia: [in Russian] Are you a giraffe?
John: [in Russian] Yes.

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Connections

Referenced in The Graham Norton Show: Nicole Kidman/Hugh Bonneville/Julie Walters/Take That (2014)

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Soundtracks

Age of the Sun
Written by Bill Doss
Performed by The Sunshine Fix
Courtesy of Emperor Norton / Kindercore Records

User Reviews

Likeable performances in story with nowhere to go

Birthday Girl has a not too bad premise- good old English chum decides out of lonliness and maybe something else to order a mail order bride from Russia. It turns out, his order is not quite what he wanted, but she (Nicole Kidman) seems like a nice enough wife, until not what was planned happens in a series of events getting the english chum and his russian bride on the run. Sometimes amusing, but it is not good enough as a movie since it can never really get into its characters and seems to float for part of the 2nd act and 3rd act. Kidman is still sexy though. C+

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