The Birthday Girl

Netflix is a wonderful thing. We're getting to see movies we might not get to. Today, we watched The Birthday Girl, with Nicole Kidman and Ben Chapman. It's an independentish film, set outside of London.

The story revolves around John(Ben Chapman), a lonely bank clerk, who works his status-quo job. He is steady, dependable, predictable. Living in the same small town all his life, he doesn't want, or have time, to find "the girl next door." So he sends off for a Russian bride.

Nicole Kidman plays the beautiful and vexing Nadia, who doesn't speak a word of English.
Being led to believe differently, John quickly wants to send her home. But Nadia plays to his darker sexual fantasies to win him over.

When two of Nadia's fellow country men show up in John's living room, it sets the stage to expose Nadia's dark secrets.

Kidman's onscreen persona is different than we've seen from her before. She did a wonderful job, cementing my opinion that she is a highly under-rated actress. Her mastery of the Russian, along with her ability for convincing accents bests Meryl Streep.

Ben Chapman's characterization of the meek, introverted clerk and Nicole Kidman's dark perfermance make this movie worth viewing.

I give it Three Paws Up!