Happy Birthday (2025) Movie Review

Sarah Goher’s Happy Birthday is a tale of class divide elevated by a breathtaking debut performance from Doha Ramadan.

Toha (Doha Ramadan), a child maid, goes against all odds to make sure her best friend Nelly (Khadija Ahmed), the daughter of her employer, has a birthday party, in exchange for a candle to make a wish. Nelly’s mother, Laila (Nelly Karim), is in the middle of a divorce and wants to use the party to get back on the good side of her estranged husband. Despite having helped with the set-up of the party, Toha is sent back to her poor family whilst the party occurs. Desperate to get her wish, Toha makes a determined trip back to the wealthy family’s home.

There have been many outstanding child performances in cinema this year, from Nina Ye in Left-Handed Girl yo Alfie Williams in 28 Years Later, but none of them match the level of performance Ramadan delivers in Happy Birthday. It is a powerhouse display that effortlessly captures childhood joy, poverty-stricken despair, and the genuine confidence of a child who has endured many hardships, but doesn’t let it prevent her from reaching her goal. The fact that this is Ramadan’s debut performance is outstanding, and with proper guidance, she could become a star. It is an absolute joy to see her outperform the more experienced adult cast members, with a particularly gut-wrenching final shot that has only previously been seen during the devastating ending of Call Me By Your Name.

While the performances are superb, the writing and narrative aren’t quite at the same standard. The first act takes some getting used to — seeing this child preparing school lunches for another child feels very alien — but once you understand Toha’s role in the household, her strengths become clear. The second act is quite dull, especially when she is forced to leave the wealthy home for her own, where the crowds are busy and her siblings have stolen all her clothes. 

The film improves towards the end, with the party scene and subsequent fallout being so tense that you can’t take your eyes off her. Happy Birthday has a lot to say about the fact that having a child maid is frowned upon, but what’s most interesting is Toha’s eagerness to be there rather than in her own home with her family. She would much rather be a servant for the rich than a fisherwoman for the poor; in her childlike innocence, she foolishly believes that rich people genuinely care about her too, and it’s heartbreaking to watch.

The contrast between the wealthy family’s house and Toha’s cramped shack is striking; throughout the first act, you believe all of Laila’s modern possessions are standard, but when you see Toha’s home and her mother’s unconventional fishing methods in the Nile, you realise how much we take for granted in the modern world. The production design effectively highlights the differences between these two families’ lives, but the cinematography could have emphasised this point even more. The visual style for both locations is the same: hand-held shaky camera movements and a wide-angle lens. The film could have employed a more static style for the wealthy home to show how controlled their life is, compared to the chaos that Toha has to come home to. Little details like this and the weepiness of the score all add up to a film that isn’t quite as polished as it should have been.

The astounding lead performance by Ramadan prevents this clunky class divide story from becoming tedious. One can only hope that casting directors recognise that Ramadan is a rising star, ready to lead many more films to come.

Happy Birthday (2025) will be screened at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (Pimedate Ööde filmifestival, PÖFF) on November 8-14-21, 2025. The film is Egypt’s submission for the 2026 Oscars.