Birthday Girl (2002)

THRILLER/ROMANTIC COMEDY: (2002, R.) (Miramax Films) (1 hr, 33 min) WARNING: This review reveals major plot surprises. Bored and desperate bank clerk John obtains an Internet mail-order bride from Russia, Nadia. When he picks her up from the airport, he finds she speaks no English. Later that night he also discovers she has a very healthy sexual appetite. When she discovers his stash of porn, she goes out of her way to satisfy his S&M fantasies. Their relationship slowly grows until Nadia’s two “cousins,” Alexei and Yuri, arrive from Russia. After a few weeks of freeloading, Alexei goes berserk and threaten to harm Nadia unless John robs the bank where he works. After John lifts ₤90,000, he discovers that Nadia is in on the con and working with Alexei, her lover, and Yuri. When Alexei discovers Nadia is pregnant, he abandons her. John, at first determined to turn her in to the police, helps her leave the country. When Alexei pick her up at the airport, John follows. After a struggle, he overpowers Alexei and robs him of the money. John and Nadia take off for Russia, having stolen the money from the thieves.

VIOLENCE/SCARINESS: Alexei threatens Nadia with a pot of boiling water and later hold a knife to John’s throat. This is the kind of film that when a woman hits a man, he hits back. Genital attack during a fight. Nadia has a rope burn on her wrists from S&M sex. Later she has several large bruises on her face from, presumably, the beating she receives from Alexei. Alexei punches John and knocks him out momentarily; John his Alexei with a guitar, knocking him out. Several characters are in moderately serious peril. We see a dead rabbit and another rabbit being eaten after being barbecued.

CRIMES: Fraud (U), Robbery (U), Assault (U).

MORALS, ISSUES & VALUES: John’s desire for love and companionship is the flaw that allows him to become Nadia’s victim. Nadia manipulates John through is sexual appetites (for bondage). John seems confused about Nadia: he doesn’t know if he’s found a Russian sex toy or if he’s actually falling in love. While Yuri and Alexei are unscrupulous louts, John uses them as role models to turn the tables on them. Because of his love for Nadia and his desire for revenge against Alexei, John becomes a criminal. Both John and Nadia pry into each other’s privacy. Language: Considerable vulgarity, several anatomical and scatological references (in both the sound track and the subtitles), some sexual gestures and blunt sexual talk, a few profanities.

SEXUALITY & GENDER ISSUES: Contemporary gender roles. No families. John is a lonely bank clerk who yearns for female company, but doesn’t want to risk finding an English girl who might turn him down. Nadia sleeps with many men as part of the scam – John calls her a prostitutes. John has a stash of pornographic videos and magazines; we see the covers; she also masturbates him. We briefly see Nadia tied up having sex with John and, later, John tied up and Nadia threatening him with large knitting needles. The film seems to imply that S&M sex is somehow responsible for the couple’s growing emotional bond. We see her from the side, nude facedown in bed. Nadia is pregnant by Alexei; we see her vomit several times. We see Nadia in her underwear and several other revealing outfits.

SUBSTANCES: Nadia smokes constantly, even when pregnant. Nadia, Alexei, and Yuri seem to drink vodka constantly. Wine with dinner.

COMMENTS: This film is problematic for parents with all the central characters being unpunished criminals. The difference between the “bad” criminals and the “good” criminals is that the latter escape with a large amount of stolen money. While this film has all the makings of a Hitchcock thriller with its combination of crime, romance, and danger, it lacks the spark from its actors and a consistent tone toward its characters, toward the nature of crime and guilt, and toward violence. There is nice symbolism throughout: for instance, John’s home is troubled by ants, a symbol of his life as a bank drone, and Nadia’s birthday is the day that John’s life changes and he begins a new one. A much better film for adults who can understand and even identify with many of the issues and the sometimes-brutal action than for kids or even teens. (Reviewed Jan 2002)

STARRING: Nicole Kidman, Ben Chaplin, Vincent Cassel, Mathieu Kassovitz

ALTERNATES: For a milder film with criminal heroes, try “The Thomas Crowne Affair.”