Birthday (2001)

• 78%
• 2001
• Drama
• Stefan Jäger
• Bibiana Beglau
• Tamara Simunovic
• Claudio Caiolo

The four friends Bibiana, Claudio, Harald, and Tamara separated in 1992, but promised themselves to meet each other again on the 30th birthday of each of them, which takes place throughout the year 2000. So the film is basically divided into four sequences related to the four birthday parties, plus additional material cut between these four parts. While the plot proceeds, in principal, according to the timely order of the birthdays, the last birthday (Bibiana's) is presented as the first one, and that's where the "additional material" comes from: This birthday is the most complex one, because Bibiana has, as a young girl, decided for herself "never to get older than 30 years", and she has never ceased from this decision. At the same time, Tamara is far advanced in pregnancy, and so "birthday" is getting a new sense around this particular date. Though being pure fiction, the film follows a semi-documentary attitude by not only telling a story of four friends but also showing all of the protagonists in short interview-like situations cut between the story, where each of them takes the opportunity to explain his or her personal point of view of this long-lasting friendship, unbiased by the presence of the other friends. The film shows how real friendship can unite very different, and complicated, characters, who live four individual lives, but would never hesitate to stand up for their friend.