by Cláudio Alves

After her Oscar win for The Hours, Nicole Kidman's career went through some interesting somersaults. 2003 saw her bow the avant-garde cruelty of Dogville at Cannes, while Hollywood bore witness to two prestige projects whose success is debatable. The Human Stain is one of those classic "This Had Oscar Buzz" case studies, while Cold Mountain is most interesting for how it didn't secure a Best Actress nomination despite AMPAS' affection. Then came 2004, when von Trier's Brechtian film finally reached the States, and Kidman faced critical lashings as a response to her risk-taking. If not for Dogville, then for a derided broad comedy we'll discuss later in the series. And, of course, for today's subject – Birth.

Jonathan Glazer's sophomore feature was a resounding bomb with audiences and critics back in 2004, and only the Golden Globes seemed willing to recognize the genius in Nicole Kidman's work. Twenty years later, its reputation has changed…