Birthday Girl

Birthday Girl is a 2001 film directed by Jez Butterworth, co-written by the director and Tom Butterworth, starring Ben Chaplin and Nicole Kidman.

John is a bank clerk from St Albans who, upon concluding he will never meet the love of his life in the 'small island' of Britain, decides to send off for a mail-order bride from Russia. A young lady, Nadia, duly arrives, but with one significant issue: she speaks no English. After a brief moral dilemma, John embarks on a relationship with his silent (at least, as far as English goes) partner. However, when Nadia's 'cousins', Yuri and Alexei, arrive from Russia, he begins to realise he may have bitten off more then he can chew.


 * Badass Longcoat: Both Nadia and Alexei sport these, in red and black leather respectively.
 * Bank Teller: John's job.
 * Bob From Accounting: John is referred to as 'Good Old John' by a colleague.
 * Chekhov's Skill: John's running.
 * Fake Nationality: Nicole Kidman (Australian), Mathieu Kassovitz and Vincent Cassel (French) as Russians.
 * Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: Nadia is quite the chain-smoker (yet another thing John wasn't expecting) but is shown merrily puffing away in a tender moment as John helps her wind her yarn for the jumper she is knitting. She does also cough a lot to remind viewers that smoking is bad.
 * Gratuitous Russian: Entire scenes of it between Nadia, Yuri and Alexei - even though none of the actors, nor the writer/director spoke Russian before coming on board.
 * Hey, It's That Guy!: John's co-workers at the bank are played by stalwarts of British television comedy, including Stephen Mangan, Alexander Armstrong (as Xander Armstrong) and Sally Phillips. Birthday Girl also features Ben Miller and a blink-and-you'll-miss-it role for Mark Gatiss.
 * Language of Love: Between John and Nadia.
 * Mail Order Bride: Nadia
 * Memento MacGuffin: Nadia's binoculars.
 * Porn Stash: John has a sizeable porn collection. However, upon discovering it, much to his surprise, Nadia is more keen to get involved with his bondage fantasies than chastise him for them.
 * Safe, Sane, and Consensual: John and Nadia's sexual relationship features bondage and knitting needles.
 * Precision F-Strike:
 * Translator Buddy: Since Yuri is the only one of the Russians to speak English, he translates for his friends.
 * Trust-Building Blunder: 'Trust and Letting Go', better known as the falling backwards exercise.
 * Trust-Building Blunder: 'Trust and Letting Go', better known as the falling backwards exercise.