A Certain Familiarity

Despite the dire fiscal straits of many dot-coms these days, it still often seems that nearly anything your heart may desire is just a keystroke or two away on the Internet. But an e-mail-order bride?

“In Europe, this is actually a common phenomenon,” says writer-director Jez Butterworth. “Everybody knows somebody who knows somebody who’s done it.”

In “Birthday Girl,” which opened Friday, that somebody is mild-mannered English bank clerk John Buckingham (Ben Chaplin). “I think he’s a very shy man, very lonely and socially inept,” Chaplin observes of his character. “He has no family to talk about or share anything with, no friends to speak of other than at work.” And then John “takes this Herculean action” of ordering a bride on the From Russia With Love Web site. He presses enter and it’s done.

“From then on,” Chaplin says, “he’s on skis and he’s just jumped over the men’s downhill slalom, and he’s got no control.”

That lack of control is evident from the moment John goes to meet his prospective bride at the airport. Despite what he’s been told, the Russian Nadia (Nicole Kidman) doesn’t speak a word of English. “It’s really a simple metaphor about communication between men and women,” Butterworth says. “They can’t speak to each other--in this case, quite literally.” Because of this, a good 20 minutes of the film passes in near silence when John and Nadia are together, warily checking each other out. Eventually, detente appears to have been reached when the two learn to communicate in the international language of, well, if not exactly love, then at least highly charged sex.

But still, things are not quite what they appear, as John quickly learns when Russian “cousins” of Nadia show up on his doorstep. Just when he thought he had his new relationship on course, it takes a startling and perhaps even life-threatening turn. “Birthday Girl” veers in tone from black comedy to romance to thriller, yet sustains its razor-thin balance to the end. “I can’t write entirely serious stuff,” Butterworth says. “Sooner or later I see the absurdity in something and am forced to try and bring it out.”

The creative inspiration behind “Birthday Girl” was the thought that “we wanted to make a film about a character who knows what he wants and thinks he can buy it,” Butterworth says. “He thinks all he has to do is one simple thing, but actually he’s going to have to suffer and lose everything and make all kinds of sacrifices before he finally gets anywhere.”

An Understanding Among Brothers

The script for “Birthday Girl” was written by Jez Butterworth and his brother Tom. A third Butterworth, Steve, served as producer on the film, which was shot in England and Australia in 1999 on a budget of just under $20 million. According to Miramax, production on the film was nearly completed in 1999 but had to be halted when Kidman’s schedule called for her to go to work on “The Others,” also a Miramax release. In mid-2000, while in the midst of making that film, Kidman returned to England to shoot some additional scenes for “Birthday Girl.”

On working with his brothers, Jez (a not-uncommon English diminutive of his given name, Jeremy) says, “I suppose to collaborate in any art you need not necessarily like-minded people, but people who understand implicitly what you’re on about. [Working with family] is one of those things that either works or doesn’t. I know it’s some people’s worst nightmare, but I think it’s great.”

The notion of brothers working together in the film business is not new--just think of the on-screen antics of Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Zeppo Marx or twins Julius J. and Philip G. Epstein, who wrote more than a dozen screenplays together including “Casablanca”--but in recent years the cinematic band of brothers has grown in numbers into a full-scale orchestra, with numerous siblings sharing or passing off writing, producing and directing responsibilities. Last year alone saw films by the brothers Coen (“The Man Who Wasn’t There”), Hughes (“From Hell”), Farrelly (“Shallow Hal”) and Kornbluth (“Haiku Tunnel”); in front of the camera, Owen and Luke Wilson shared screen time in “The Royal Tenenbaums.”

Collaborating with Tom on writing is one thing--the two began writing together while they were students at Cambridge University--but additional challenges are faced when a writer-director must deal with his producer, even if it’s his brother. “Films are made between the two stones of art and money,” Jez observes. Rubbing his clenched fists against each other in illustration, he notes that “Steve and I are doing this all day long. I want to do something, and he says, ‘I can’t afford it.’ We’re going to butt heads, but what can you do? You’ve got to spend Christmas with that person in the end.”

These sentiments are echoed by Steve Butterworth. “One of the great things about working with your brothers is that you’ve already had a hundred arguments with them before and it’s all worked out in the end. You still love each other and know full well that you’re going to see them the next day.”

“In making films,” he adds, “the relationship between the director and the producer is all about trust, and that’s really a given for us.”

The Butterworths also worked together on “Mojo,” the 1997 film based on Jez’s Olivier Award-winning play. Playwriting is a solo task for Jez, and his latest effort is due to open in London later this year. He may be in the spotlight more than his siblings, but Jez is actually the youngest of the three: Tom is 34, Steve is 33 and Jez is 32. Bringing up the rear is John Henry, 25, who has also tossed his creative hat into the familial film arena: He and Jez have just completed a screenplay for Sydney Pollack’s Mirage Enterprises.

The male bonding in evidence on the “Birthday Girl” production team was also shared between Jez and Chaplin. Both grew up in nearby suburbs in the same Herefordshire region where the film takes place. “It’s the first time I’ve worked with a director who’s the same age I am. We had very similar references, so there was a lot of shorthand involved.”

“Birthday Girl” is Chaplin’s highest-profile leading role since he was the object of Uma Thurman and Janeane Garofalo’s affection in 1996’s “The Truth About Cats & Dogs.” He has also appeared in “Washington Square” (1997), “The Thin Red Line” (1998) and “Lost Souls (2000), and will next be seen as Sandra Bullock’s FBI colleague in “Murder by Numbers” this spring.

For Kidman, the role of Nadia is yet another unconventional choice in a career that has often steered off the mainstream movie-star track--and one she almost didn’t get the chance to play.

“I was dubious at first,” Butterworth says of casting Kidman. “I thought there was every chance that her celebrity might overbalance the [rest of the film]. But when I met her, her interpretation of the role and her wish to take the risk were just irresistible.”

At the beginning of the shoot, “Nicole and I sort of had a little aside, and I said, ‘Look, I’ve directed lots of actors before, but I’ve never directed a movie star. Is it any different?’ She said no, and that was that, really.”