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Birthday Girl
John is a mild-mannered banker who has never been lucky in love. Fed up with waiting for the right girl to come along, John takes a chance on a Russian mail-order bride arranged via the Internet, where he is introduced to Nadia. John's fondness for Nadia grows... until the sudden arrival of Nadia's gregarious cousins makes John realize that he's in over his head.
2001 · Directed by Jez Butterworth · 93 min · Comedy · Crime · Thriller · Screenplay in the scene database · 7 frames
Tagline
Be careful what you wish for.
Plot
John Buckingham, an introverted, lonely St Albans bank clerk, orders a mail-order bride, Nadia, from Russia on the Internet. John is uncomfortable and shy, but Nadia is sexually bold.
Although Nadia cannot speak English and John cannot speak Russian, they soon bond. Later on, a man she introduces as her cousin Yuri and his friend Alexei turn up to celebrate her birthday. Alexei soon shows that he has a temper.
After a violent altercation, Alexei holds Nadia hostage and demands a ransom from John. As he has grown to care for Nadia, he is forced to steal from the bank where he has worked for ten years. After the ransom is paid, he realises that he has been the victim of an elaborate con. Nadia, Yuri, and Alexei are criminals, and Alexei is actually Nadia's boyfriend.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Written by: Jez Butterworth, Tom Butterworth
- Cinematography: Oliver Stapleton
- Edited by: Christopher Tellefsen
- Music: Stephen Warbeck
- Production design: Hugo Luczyc-Wyhowski
- Produced by: Steve Butterworth, Diana Phillips, Eric Abraham
Cast
- Nicole Kidman as Nadia / Sophia
- Ben Chaplin as John
- Vincent Cassel as Alexei
- Mathieu Kassovitz as Yuri
- Kate Lynn Evans as Clare
- Stephen Mangan as Bank Manager
- Alexander Armstrong as Robert Mosley
- Sally Phillips as Karen
- Jo McInnes as Waitress
- Ben Miller as Concierge
Production
- Country: United Kingdom
- Language: Russian, English
- Studios: HAL Films, Film4 Productions
- Budget: $13,000,000
- Box office: $16,171,098
- Themes: robbery, mail order bride, bank clerk
On this film
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