Birth
Fine Line Features | Release Date: October 29, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
51
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 38 Critic Reviews
Positive:
12
Mixed:
16
Negative:
10
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
The eerie tale is steeped in brooding atmosphere and psychological suspense thanks to Glazer's hugely imaginative visual style and creative use of music, sound, and silence. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
An effective thriller precisely because it is true to the way sophisticated people might behave in this situation. Its characters are not movie creatures, gullible, emotional and quickly moved to tears. They're realists, rich, a little jaded. Read full review
88
PremiereKevin Allison
There are moments so beautifully composed and so resonant in Jonathan Glazer's (Sexy Beast) sophomore effort, I can at least propose it's a "near-great." Read full review
80
The New York TimesDana Stevens
Without Ms. Kidman's brilliantly nuanced performance, Birth might feel arch, chilly and a little sadistic, but she gives herself so completely to the role that the film becomes both spellbinding and heartbreaking, a delicate chamber piece with the large, troubled heart of an opera. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
What the intelligently spooky Birth does best is disturb us. Read full review
80
VarietyDavid Rooney
While it veers heavily toward pretentiousness, this striking metaphysical mystery is intensely compelling, conjuring a mood between European high-arthouse and the unsettling psychological horror of "Rosemary's Baby." Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Birth presents an intriguing premise about death and the possibility of rebirth in an elegant, melancholy and deliberate fashion. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Birth makes its oddball supernaturalism seem completely, compellingly real. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
The best of what's onscreen is a mesmerizing mind-teaser. Read full review
70
Film ThreatRick Kisonak
A fine cast, understated treatment and tantalizing premise make for a movie well worth seeing even if you don't come away believing. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
The dialogue is sparse but well used -- it's refreshing to see a movie where people don't feel compelled to talk all the time. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
It's corny, plodding, implausible and - on occasion - seriously creepy. At the same time, it contains a couple of this movie year's most sublime sequences, and features one of Nicole Kidman's bravest and best performances. Read full review
60
Village VoiceDennis Lim
If Birth succeeds more as a source of visual and aural enthrallment than as supernatural narrative, it's largely because the final third hovers uncomfortably between the mystical and the earthbound. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Terrific acting and fearless direction transform what might have been a silly exercise in the slightly spooky into a somber and deeply romantic mystery. Read full review
60
EmpireIan Nathan
Imagine if Stanley Kubrick had made Ghost and you're some way to this classily restrained oddity, but its morbid preoccupations and ambiguity might prove too cuckoo for most. Read full review
60
NewsweekDavid Ansen
Ridiculous, and oddly unforgettable. Read full review
60
The New YorkerDavid Denby
This movie, taken all together, is one of the most bizarre combinations of distinguished talent and inane ideas that I've ever seen. Read full review
58
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
Kidman's performance is the best thing in the movie, but it's not at all appealing. Read full review
50
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
Birth may be the most futile application of cinematic and acting skill I've seen all year. A little "Twilight Zone" flummery would have livened up the proceedings to no end. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneAllison Benedikt
For awhile, the stately symphonic score, urbane setting and understated dress make Birth feel powerful--until it feels empty, lacking what Glazer so furiously exhibited in his equally stylized freshman endeavor: heart. Read full review
50
New York PostMegan Lehmann
Kidman gives an other stunning performance in Birth, but it is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma that ultimately reveals . . . not much. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
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. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderHank Sartin
In this eerily tranquil psychological thriller, Nicole Kidman's placid countenance is like a Rorschach: you'll project onto it what you want to see. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Despite its trappings, despite its style, Birth is just a tall tale with a short reach. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Begins like a penetrating exploration of love, grief and suffering and ends looking like a highbrow version of "Bride of Chucky." Read full review
50
SalonStephanie Zacharek
A little like the '80s crowd-pleaser "Ghost," but way artier. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
When Kidman slithers into a bathtub with her young ''husband,'' the scene, in its soft-pedaled way, is the definition of exploitation: It appears to have been cooked up for no other purpose than to conjure creepy child-porn overtones. Read full review
40
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
The ick-factor deepens as the story progresses, but the mystery never does. Read full review
38
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Such a meticulously wrought piece of hokum that it's both easy to admire and impossible to warm up to. Read full review
38
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Stay away from Birth not because of what goes on (or doesn't) in a bathtub, but because this is not a very good movie. Read full review
33
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
Handsomely photographed, artfully edited and acted with skill and conviction. It is also so stupid that you expect to see strings of drool dripping from the corner of the screen. Read full review
30
The Hollywood ReporterRay Bennett
A paranormal mystery without a spine. It has no suspense because it has no belief in itself. Read full review
30
Dallas ObserverRobert Wilonsky
You're almost tempted to laugh at Birth by the end, but by then you're too busy cursing it to bother. Read full review
30
Washington PostTeresa Wiltz
For all its art-house posturing, for all its exploration of the taboo topic, Birth is anything but good. Read full review
25
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Birth, which should never have been conceived, is obscure in every way: visually, philosophically and psychologically. Read full review
20
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
Too highbrow for the multiplex and too literal for the hipsters, it's unsatisfying both as gothic camp and serious cinema. Read full review
20
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Might have qualified as dumb fun if they hadn't left out the fun.
20
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
Birth is one of those films occasionally encountered that make me question my nativity or that of the film-makers. Were they and I born on the same planet? If so, how could we now have such vastly different criteria of a film story's believability? Read full review
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