Genre: Mystery, Romance, Drama, Psychodrama
Tagline: Be careful what you wish for.
Plot: Ten years after the sudden death of her beloved husband Sean, Anna (Nicole Kidman) is finally ready to emerge from the shadow of grief and begin a new chapter in her life. She has agreed to marry Joseph (Danny Huston), a good-humored, cultured man who has patiently courted the lovely young widow for three years. Anna’s decision pleases her mother Eleanor (Lauren Bacall), an elegant and commanding woman who has welcomed Joseph into the family’s spacious apartment on New York’s aristocratic Upper East Side. The apartment has been Anna’s home since Sean’s death, and it is also the present residence of her pregnant sister Laura (Alison Elliot) and Laura’s husband Bob (Arliss Howard), who are having their own home remodeled. And it is there that friends and relatives gather one night for Anna and Joseph’s engagement party.Those guests include Clifford (Peter Stormare), who was Sean’s best friend, and Clifford’s wife Clara (Anne Heche). The couple is not entirely at ease in these privileged environs; as the elevator arrives, Clara decides their gift is not properly wrapped and sends Clifford up to the party alone. As Clara pauses in the building’s marble lobby to ponder her options, her gaze lights on a young boy (Cameron Bright), sitting by himself in an anteroom. Clara soon leaves
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 Discussion forum for this movie
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 Some will call Birth "a fascinating look into the metaphysical and how it relates to our notions of love." High ideals, to be sure, and if you gaze long enough into the movie's murky depths, you might begin to see undeveloped kernels to match those sentiments. As far as I'm concerned, however, there's a more straightforward phrase that can be used to describe Jonathan Glazer's film: pretentious crap.  --James Berardinelli (ReelViews)
Nicole Kidman stars as a woman entranced by a 10-year-old boy who claims to be her late husband. So just how steamy is that scene where Kidman and the kid take a bath together?--Stephanie Zacharek (Salon)
Every once in a great while, something comes out that is so ridiculous that you almost expect it to blow you away with its originality and intelligence. This year we have had two films like that: “Team America", which pulls this feat off perfectly; and "Birth", a film that is so confoundedly awful that it doesn't even take us long to understand why everybody in it looks like a brain dead zombie. D--Craig Younkin (Lee's Movie Info)
Birth is the perfect example of an inexperienced director getting too much control over a project and turning out a self-indulgent, pretentious, nearly unwatchable mess. Glazer, however, constantly reminds us that there is plenty of talent at the core, as Birth is a beautifully shot and acted film, but everything else is just short of a disaster. 5/10--Aaron West (Movie-Vault.com)
A plodding and pretentious thriller, this beyond-the-grave affair ends up being too art-house for the mainstream crowd and too mainstream for the art-house crowd. Loosely translated, that means it doesn’t work for anyone.  --Sean O'Connell (FilmCritic.com)
For me, the film worked well enough. I bought the prospect of a boy in whom a window into a past life inexplicably opened. A fine cast, understated treatment and tantalizing premise make for a movie well worth seeing even if you don't come away believing.  --Rick Kisonak (MovieWeb)
Glazer may have a strong enough visual imagination to direct a new version of “Wuthering Heights,” but this movie, taken all together, is one of the most bizarre combinations of distinguished talent and inane ideas that I’ve ever seen.--David Denby (The New Yorker)
Birth is easily the worst of the three, though - where Dogville was ugly and artificial, and The Stepford Wives merely stupid, Birth manages artificial and stupid while also being dull. And there's no worse sin for a movie than to be boring.  --Jay Seaver (eFilmCritic.com)
Glazer has promise as a director but he had better learn how to apply the right tone to the right script. Kidman is a decent actress but she had better learn how to define the difference between a script that's 'clever' and one that's 'crap'. Glazer and company have aimed to make a deep, seriousness film and in one way they've succeeded - it's a deeply serious failure.  --M.P. Bartley (eFilmCritic.com)
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| Directed by |
Jonathan Glazer
Sexy Beast, Massive Attack: Eleven Promos, The Work of Director Jonathan Glazer |
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| Written by |
| Milo Addica
Monster's Ball, The King, The Work of Director Jonathan Glazer |
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| Cast |
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 | Alison Elliott
The Wings of the Dove, The Spitfire Grill, Indictment: The McMartin Trial |
 | Arliss Howard
Full Metal Jacket, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Tequila Sunrise |
 | Anne Heche
Donnie Brasco, Wag the Dog, I Know What You Did Last Summer |
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 | Ted Levine
The Silence of the Lambs, Heat, The Fast and the Furious |
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| "Birth" is not a comedy, but it's impossible to take it seriously, either. ... Nicole Kidman is an amazing actress, and her performance here is top-notch, but I doubt there is a child actor alive who could pull off the Sean role with the sincerity and believability it requires. C --Eric D. Snider (EricDSnider.com)
Glazer's direction is splendid, and for some that might be enough to make "Birth" a satisfying viewing experience, but I couldn't get over the flawed storytelling.  --Kevin N. Laforest (Montreal Film Journal)
On the face of it, "Birth" plays like a romantic farce stripped of its humor. It's corny, plodding, implausible and - on occasion - seriously creepy.  --Jack Mathews (New York Daily News)
An unusual film from beginning to end, Birth is certain to divide audiences – some will be drawn to Glazer’s hypnotically austere style, while others will find the whole thing rather silly and laughable.  --Matthew Turner (ViewLondon)
Nicole Kidman gives an other stunning perform ance in "Birth," but it is a riddle wrapped in a mys tery inside an enigma that ultimately reveals . . . not much. --Megan Lehmann (New York Post)
A prime example of how impressive acting and wonderful direction can be wasted on an implausible and slightly-tasteless story. 6/10--Gary Panton (Movie Gazette)
It’s a spooky movie without anything really scary in it, a ghost story without any spirits, a romance that displays scant affection, a reincarnation tale that never uses that particular word nor engages in anything terribly transcendental.  --Marjorie Baumgarten (Austin Chronicle)
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