Review of Birth (2004) by Matthew T — 23 Jun 2008

Booed at the Venice Film Festival and handled carefully thereafter upon release in the fall of 2004, Birth explores the possibilities of reincarnation and pushes them in challenging directions as Anna (Nicole Kidman) receives a young boy at her engagement party, claiming to be Sean, her deceased husband.

Set on New York's Upper East Side and its privileged environs, Birth confines most of its stylistic marks to location, but more than a few touches (Kidman's haircut, the title script/font, the seemingly mad heroine, the symmetry of two character's falls) pay homage to Rosemary's Baby, another adult New York fairy tale.

Nicole Kidman's performance as Anna is edgy, quite believable, and elegiacally haunting - equally matched by Cameron Bright as 'Sean'. While the film seems to tie up the film's central mystery (is he Sean or isn't he) in the 2nd act showdown with Anne Heche, two pivotal (and subtle) plot points pull away from the apparent resolution.

1) Isn't it possible that Sean retrieved the letters as mementos from his former love? and 2) Aside from a lucky guess, how would Sean have known who told Anna about Santa Claus? 3) Finally, Anna's scene at the beach at the film's close seems to further cloud the issue as Anna's sadness seems like mourning---and resignation.

Birth is a stylish, mesmerising, compelling film by and for adults - a rare thing in this cliimate wherein video games and children's fare continually balloon the studio bottom line.