Line #11 Film/BirthdayGirl


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/birthday_girl_2001_poster.jpg]]
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3	''Birthday Girl'' is a 2001 British film directed by Jez Butterworth, co-written by the director and Tom Butterworth, and starring Ben Chaplin, Creator/NicoleKidman, Creator/MathieuKassovitz, and Creator/VincentCassel.
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5	John (Chaplin) 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 (Kidman), 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 (Cassel) and Alexei (Kassovitz), arrive from Russia, he begins to realise he may have bitten off more then he can chew.
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8	!! ''Birthday Girl'' contains examples of:
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10	* BadassLongcoat: Both Nadia and Alexei sport these, in red and black leather respectively. Alexei even jogs in his. John takes Alexei's as part of assuming his identity when fleeing to Russia at the end.
11	* BobFromAccounting: John is referred to as 'Good Old John' by a colleague.
12	* ChekhovsSkill: John's running.
13	* TheCon: The second act twist is that [[spoiler:the Russian bride and her kidnappers are working together to scam her husband, and do it all the time.]]
14	* GoodSmokingEvilSmoking: 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.
15	* GratuitousRussian: 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.
16	* LanguageOfLove: Between John and Nadia. [[spoiler:An exploited trope. Nadia reveals that the marks fall in love with her faster when she pretends not to speak English.]]
17	* MailOrderBride: Nadia is a Russian bride [[spoiler:but actually a con artist]].
18	* MementoMacGuffin: Nadia's binoculars.
19	* PornStash: 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.
20	* PrecisionFStrike: "Great. You split my fucking lip..." John's shocked face says it all.
21	* TheReveal: [[spoiler:Nadia, Yuri, and Alexei are {{con artist}}s, tricking lonely men into falling for Nadia and then forcing them to steal to 'protect' her. Also, Nadia can speak English. And her name isn't Nadia]].
22	* SafeSaneAndConsensual: John is into bondage and embarrassed by his fetish. To his surprise, Nadia is open-minded about it, and they get into a sexual relationship featuring bondage and knitting needles.
23	* TranslatorBuddy: Since Yuri is the only one of the Russians to speak English, he translates for his friends.
24	* TrustBuildingBlunder: 'Trust and Letting Go', better known as the falling backwards exercise.
25	* WimpFight: John and Nadia get into a slap-fight at one point. But then Nadia delivers a [[GroinAttack knee to the groin]].
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Context Film / BirthdayGirl