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Cover art forBirth

Birth

Year
2004
Watched
Jan 19, 2025
Rewatch?
No

I had originally started Campion’s The Portrait of a Lady but bailed on that and put this on, feels like a wise decision.

What a weird and unsettling score (complimentary).

The closeup of Kidman’s face in the opera gazes out at Adèle Haenel in Portrait of a Lady on Fire’s final scene.

(Nicole Kidman has a very characteristic “hm” when her characters are processing deep emotion. I’ve noticed it before but it really struck me here.)

So lovely to see Lauren Bacall—for a half second I thought she was still with us. And Anne Heche!

There’s a reveal at the end of the movie that asks the viewer to make a choice—let’s just say that I’m with Kidman’s Anna, I know what I saw.

Truly impressive, and begging for a properly cleaned up high-definition release.

(Watched as part of Criterion’s Nicole Kidman collection.)