This week’s film review is Birth directed by Jonathan Glazer. It is a very deep and unique drama film which also has some supernatural elements in it. Nicole Kidman plays a wealthy widow “Anna” whose husband Sean passed away ten years ago and now she is engaged to another man named Joseph. One day on Eleanor’s (Anna’s mum) birthday, a ten year old boy named Sean enters the house and claims to be Anna’s dead husband Sean. He knows almost everything about the actual Sean and his relationship with Anna. Anna starts to believe him. She even leaves her fiancé. Then things go even more strange after that…

There are many symbols and metaphors in Birth. In the opening scene we are introduced to Sean. He gives a lecture about reincarnation and ironically, he says that he does not believe in it. Then he goes out for jogging. His path towards the tunnel is a metaphor for his life. The darkness inside the tunnel signifies his death. He passes the tunnel and keeps jogging. His presence on the other side of the tunnel suggests his reincarnation.

Eventually, Anna decides to leave her insecure fiancé to be with Sean. There are some controversial scenes in the film. A ten year old boy and Nicole Kidman shares a brief kiss on the lips. They even share a bathtub together. I guess they are acceptable but people’s reaction would have been different if the gender roles were reversed.

When Clara (Anna’s family friend) and her side of the story comes along, everything gets obscure. She enters Anna’s house and talks to Sean giving him her new address and telling him to come visit her. Then the audience is reminded of the scene when Sean was following Clara before Anna and Jonathan’s engagement party. She buried something and Sean witnessed it. It was then revealed that they were Anna’s love letters to Sean unopened. Sean gave them to Clara just to prove he loves her more. He (the kid Sean) digs them up and reads everything. Clara was going to give the letters to Anna as an engagement present but she changed her mind. Therefore, that might be an indicator that Sean was actually just a kid. He read the letters multiple times and remembered what was written in them. His answers were never very detailed anyway they were just enough to make others think he is Sean. He did not know Clara and his affair with her because it was not written in the letters. Glazer puts emphasis on both aspects of the story. He leaves it open to discussion and possibilities. However, he gives just enough evidences and details to prove that he actually is Sean.

After confronting Clara, Sean tells Anna that he is a liar and he is not her deceased husband Sean. The reason he says that he is not Sean and leaves her is because he regrets what he did in his past life how he cheated on Anna and he does not want to hurt her again. Another piece of evidence that can easily pass unnoticed is when Clara came to Anna’s place to talk to Sean. He tells her “Don’t tell Anna”. Why would he say that if he is so in love with Anna and if he did not know about his affair with Clara? Lastly, Sean sends Anna a letter after a few months and the last thing he writes is “I guess I’ll see you in another lifetime” just this sentence is enough to prove he is her dead husband Sean but he knows it is impossible to be with her in this lifetime.

Anyway time goes by, and Anna moves on and she is about to marry Joseph but there is something wrong. She does not seem happy. She runs into the sea sobbing on her wedding day. She is devastated. Anna and Sean met for the first time at the beach. This scene shows how desperate she is to be in a world where Sean is. Then she reluctantly lets Joseph embrace her. She knows there is nothing she can do other than moving on even though she knows she can never love Joseph or anyone as much as she loved Sean. The film is really not about reincarnation. It is about eternal, everlasting love. It illustrates that people can have only one true love in their life time which lasts forever even after the death of one partner.

personal ranking: 9/10