Birthday Girl

The director of Birthday Girl apparently wanted to make an original, postmodern romance that would combine the English sophistication of Bridget Jones’s Diary with the sexist controversy of the French film The Piano Teacher. But his plan either went off the rails or – in the worse case – he has very strange ideas about film directing. With the arrival of the thriller level, the initial interesting impression of the film turns into an unreliable patchwork that doesn’t know what it wants to say to the viewer. Birthday Girl will appeal to you only if you have bizarre tastes or if you have a major weakness for Nicole Kidman or Vincent Cassel, both of whom are excellent here, which can’t be said for the maximally bland Ben Chaplin. (31/07/2002)

This is a very good film. It has a clever script and at times it’s very funny, sexy, and suspenseful, and it turns into an unexpected fairy tale at the end. The minimum of leading roles is also a good thing and the mix from all over the world gave it the right energy. I'm slowly becoming enamored with Nicole Kidman's myriad of skills. (05/01/2010)

A film in which Nicol Kidman and Vincent Cassel delivered excellent performances while Ben Chaplin was lackluster and wooden. There was also a lack of conception, and the screenwriter didn’t worry too much about logic, so two stars are more than enough. (09/05/2020)