Birthday Girl

"A night of celebration becomes a nightmare."

2024 1h 30m DA

😐

5.7

MID

★5.7TMDB · 30

DramaThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

On a cruise ship bound for the Caribbean, 42 year old Nanna has invited her daughter Cille and her best friend on a cruise to celebrate Cille's 18th birthday. The expectations are high, and they have big plans set for the three days aboard the cruise. But on the first evening, the dream vacation descends a nightmare, and Nanna realizes that in order to get justice, she must take matters into her own hands.

“A night of celebration becomes a nightmare.”

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Cast

Trine Dyrholm
Nanna
Flora Ofelia Hofmann Lindahl
Cille
Maja Ida Thiele
Lea
Herman Tømmeraas
Kevin
Jenilyn Olivar-Grinkin
Amy
Sebastian DeMots
Bacon
Keith Eric Chappelle
Jerome
Nathan Popa
Ryan

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Michael Noer
Writers: Michael Noer, Jesper Fink
Languages: Danish, English
Countries: Denmark

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

90 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $3.7M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 2 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Danish, English.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Michael Noer, shot by Adam Wallensten. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Nils Martin Larsen. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Jacob Thuesen shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Trine Dyrholm and Flora Ofelia Hofmann Lindahl and Maja Ida Thiele carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Michael Noer directs. Adam Wallensten behind the camera. Nils Martin Larsen scores. Jacob Thuesen cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in Denmark. Dialogue in Danish, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

190 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
2Shot for just $3.7M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
3Released 2 years ago.
4Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Danish, English.
5Directed by Michael Noer, shot by Adam Wallensten. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Nils Martin Larsen. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Jacob Thuesen shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Trine Dyrholm and Flora Ofelia Hofmann Lindahl and Maja Ida Thiele carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "A night of celebration becomes a nightmare.".
10IMDB entry: tt19883220 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Only 30 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
12Classified under 8 themes, including "birthday", "nightclub", "cruise", "melancholy".

The technical file

Cinematography: Adam Wallensten
Original score: Nils Martin Larsen
Editing: Jacob Thuesen
Production design: Søren Schwartzberg
Costume design: Pille Küngas
Makeup / hair: Gristina Pahmann
VFX supervisor: John Cato L. Finnebråten
Sound: Nils Aré Viken
Stunt coordinator: Enar Tarmo
Runtime: 90 min · 1h 30m
Status: Released
Budget: $3,700,000
Original language: DA
IMDB: Birthday Girl (2024)

Also by

Michael Noer

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2025-07-24
★ 6/10
“Nanna” (Trine Dyrholm) has a strained relationship with her daughter “Cille” (Flora Lindahl) and so invites her and her friend “Lea” (Maja Ida Thiele) onto a Caribbean cruise to celebrate her birthday. The boat duly sets sail and the girls meet “Kevin” (Herman Tammeraas) and his brother “Ryan” (Nathan Popa) and they all let their hair down. A trip out to the boat deck for “Cille” doesn’t not end well, and now distressed, hungover and unable to recall just what did happen, her mother is convinced that she has been raped. She reports her suspicions to the authorities, but with her daughter unwilling to undergo any sort of medical and the ship being in somewhat muddy international waters, they claim their hands are tied and so it falls to “Nanna” to try to identify and shame the culprit. The question is, with “Cille” remaining adamantly uncooperative with her mother, even in private, is she going to get the right man? Too much of this drama is based on the scare factor of the alleged deed and nowhere near enough on developing a characterful story that engages. We are selectively drip-fed information that is manoeuvring us to a series of conclusions that I felt distinctly uncomfortable about. On the one hand we have a “victim” who refuses to incriminate her offender - but is that because there was no offence, or because she doesn’t remember, or because she is ashamed or a bit of all three? Meantime we are encouraged to see one of these young men as a cocky sexual predator without really having any more to go on than a kiss and her mother’s guilt-ridden suspicions. From here on in the scenarios lurch around in a fashion that might be intended to convey the exasperation of “Nanna”, but by presenting an entirely one-sided perspective I actually started to dislike this woman, quite intensely. The denouement is something straight out of Agatha Christie, with an all too convenient wrapping up of events that is every bit as obnoxious as the crime itself. To really get to the heart of depictions of sex crimes like this, you can’t just sail along encouraging the audience to make assumptions about boozed-up responsibility and consent without far more substantial characterisations otherwise it just perpetuates man-hating attitudes that help no one.

Production companies