Ben Chaplin plays John, a St. Albans bank clerk whose life is turned upside down when he orders a Russian mail-order bride from the internet. When the mysterious and beautiful Nadia (Oscar® winner Nicole Kidman) arrives, John is shocked to discover that she speaks no English – but he soon falls in love with the sexy stranger. When Nadia’s Russian ‘cousins’ unexpectedly show up on her birthday, John fast realizes he’s got a lot more than he bargained for… From director Jez Butterworth, Birthday Girl is a sexy comic thriller starring Nicole Kidnam (Moulin Rouge, The Hours), Ben Chaplin (The Truth About Cats & Dogs, The Thin Red Line), Vincent Cassel (Elizabeth) and Mathieu Kassovitz (Amelie).
Film Crew
- : Jez Butterworth
- : Steve Butterworth
- : Tom Butterworth
- : Christopher Tellefsen
- : Stephen Warbeck
- : Verity Roberts
- : Sydney Pollack
- : Julie Goldstein
- : Diana Phillips
- : Guy Norris
- : Simon Hinkly
- : Phoebe De Gaye
- : Simon Hayes
- : Oliver Stapleton
Technical Information
- Couleur
- English
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Bande annonce
Ben Chaplin plays John, a St. Albans bank clerk whose life is turned upside down when he orders a Russian mail-order bride from the internet.-
Sparks don't come much brighter than Jez Butterworth, the writer-director who for his sophomore venture, co-written with brother Tom, gets to work with a mouth-wateringly stellar cast: Nicole Kidman, Mathieu Kassovitz and Vincent Cassel. Kidman is Nadia, the Russian internet bride ordered by a nerdy St Albans bank clerk played by Ben Chaplin, who - once he gets to say the funny, sarky lines the Butterworths have written for him later on in the film - finally gives a nicely droll performance. Things turn sour when Nadia's mysterious buddies Kassovitz and Cassel show up, and our hapless hero is inveigled into crime. It's a picture with its fair share of plot implausibilities and it looks weirdly stagey, with an Australian and two Frenchmen impersonating Russians. But it's a lively, watchable comedy nonetheless.
Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian -
Dark, brisk and sharp, Birthday Girl is the best of British - no corsets, no gangsters, just great performances and an inventive script.
Film 4
