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Birthday
Girl (2023)
    
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Directed
by:
Michael Noer |
COUNTRY
Denmark |
GENRE
Drama/Thriller |
NORWEGIAN TITLE
Birthday Girl |
RUNNING
TIME
90 minutes |
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Produced
by:
René Ezra
Matilda Appelin |
Written by:
Michael Noer
Jesper Fink |
Review
A driven performance by Trine Dyrholm
is the nucleus of this almost subtle dissection of an alleged rape
aboard a cruise ship bound for the Caribbean. Dyrholm plays a mother
who has taken her daughter Cille (Flora Ofelia Hoffmann Lindahl) and
a friend on a cruise to celebrate the girl's 18th birthday. And in
accordance with your typical libertine Danish tradition, mum wants
to party with the young girls – but so do a group of young Norwegian
bachelors, headed by the charming Kevin (Herman Tømmeraas from the
Norwegian TV series Skam). Birthday Girl manages to
address the timeless issue of rape with topical detail, with the
added complication of aspects such as international waters and the
reputation of a cruise ship company on the line. The film is by no
means flawless – at times, director Michael Noer is too preoccupied
with pushing certain plot points and conflicts to the forefront at
the expense of character authenticity. Still, there is dramatic
power and at times a palpable nerve in the situation mother and
daughter find themselves in, and the two Danish actresses impress in
the leads.
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