The most important response, of course, is Anna's, and it is also the most complicated. Kidman, her hair cut short and dyed dark red, conveys both the toughness of a woman who has pulled herself together after a traumatic loss and the vulnerability of someone whose grieving has remained incomplete. As much as Desplat's score or Glazer's sly pacing, it is Kidman's face that holds you in a spell of uncertainty.
She has an uncanny ability to register large feelings with tiny gestures, which Glazer exploits by filming her in long, silent close-ups. Without 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.
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