‘Babygirl’ Review: Nicole Kidman Comes to a Place of Magic in Halina Reijn's Smart Erotic Dramedy
Halina Reijn, the filmmaker behind Bodies Bodies Bodies, is back with an erotic drama starring Nicole Kidman as a CEO who gets her body body body railed by her intern, played by Harris Dickinson, oh so many times. Interestingly, I saw Babygirl at last year's TIFF but was not in the proper state to write a review. A24 got me drunk at a pre-reception, so I was operating on an alcohol-induced haze with no critical thinking whatsoever, outside of going, "Good for her." But upon a sober rewatch on Christmas Day, I’m glad to say that Babygirl is that girl! Not only does it spin the traditions of the erotic thriller on its head, but it’s one of the smartest movies to explore sexuality, pleasure, and becoming (emphasis on coming) oneself in a fairly long time.
Image copyright (©) Courtesy of A24
R: for strong sexual content, nudity and language.
Runtime: 1 Hr and 54 Minutes
Production Companies: A24, 2AM, Man Up Films
Distributor: A24
Director: Halina Reijn
Writer: Halina Reijn
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Harris Dickinson, Sophie Wilde, Antonio Banderas
Release Date: December 25, 2024
Romy Mathis (Nicole Kidman) has it all: a CEO position at a robotics automation company, a family consisting of two daughters, Isabel (Esther McGregor) and Nora (Vaughan Reilly), and her loving theater director husband Jacob (Antonio Banderas), several houses, a classy wardrobe, and power. Yup, she has it all, but good sex. Whenever she bumps uglies with her hubby, she has to fake an orgasm and proceed to watch porn in another room so she can finish herself off. When she meets a newly hired intern at her company, Samuel (Harris Dickinson), she’s captivated by his assertive and unflinching demeanor. When fate finds them spending time alone, an affair blossoms between them. Instead of Romy having the upper hand with her power, she allows her inner desires of being a little submissive (a “babygirl,” if you will) to run free and lets her freak flag fly.
"Aren't You Tired of Being Girlboss? Don't You Just Wanna Go Babygirl?"
Cinema history is full of erotic thrillers about big business CEOs starting steamy situationships with someone younger and/or lower on the totem pole of power. It’s often men in the role of said power. With the gender flip presented, Halina Reijn's Babygirl takes a far more interesting direction. Instead of exploring the limits and consequences of what would happen if a woman CEO went on her kinky shit, becoming a Christian Grey herself, she poses the question, “Aren't you tired of being ‘Girlboss?’ Don't you just wanna go ‘Babygirl?’”
In Babygirl, Reijn explores the idea of docility we all play with – whether in our daily lives or the bedroom – and how that can keep us from pleasure. It’s telling, mainly due to the sublime Nicole Kidman's expressions, that Romy's power has prevented her from getting what she wants. There's the pressure of always being logistical rather than impulsive. She experiences that safety in every facet of her life, especially with sex with her husband, leaving her feeling hollow. That notion becomes more interesting when Samuel rocks her world, turning her on with his blunt, commanding attitude.
Before they have sex for the first time, Romy seems to have more of an inner battle with herself than with Samuel. She has a left-and-right-brain civil war in real-time while Samuel watches confused. Reijn refrains from hitting any traditionalist beat you'd expect, even when characters inevitably uncover the affair, while never shaming, punishing, or villainizing its lead for exploring that side of herself. It's what makes Babygirl feel so nuanced.
Additionally, the film is enhanced by touches of realism in the character illustrations, which add to the eroticism. Both parties are often unsure about each other's willingness to explore this sub-dom affair. Samuel may possess a blunt demeanor, but he's so neurodivergent, and Romy struggles with her self-control. When their weirdo asses interact romantically, it's awkward, yet it's so inviting because it feels realistic. It adds dimension to Kidman and Dickinson's intoxicating chemistry, making you sweat before their bodies even touch.
Babygirl is What We Need in a Vanilla Cinematic Landscape
In recent years, there has been a lack of sexuality in film. I'm not talking about romantic sex, but straight-up fucking. Frankly, movies have been a bit conservative. With film snobs or Gen-Z viewers on Twitter going, "Why do movies need sex scenes?" and the industry adhering to that, cinema has been feeling so radically vanilla. Sex is so much more than shock value in movies. Sex is meant to emphasize connection and pleasure, and why it’s so important to human stimulation, but nobody wants to have that conversation. Babygirl is a perfect personification of that and feels so radical and fresh to witness a movie that allows its lead to experience this pleasure, affair be damned, and not villainize her for it. Also, it's a ton of fucking fun, dude!
Kidman and Co. Dominate the Screen
Nicole fucking Kidman, man. She’s one of the hardest-working actresses in the industry today, and her performance is something that you’d never even expect from an actress of her caliber. It's not even the raw sexual fervor because we've seen it with Eyes Wide Shut. However, portraying a character with such a high level of class and authority, and swiftly exhibiting a submissive sexual position, such as getting on all fours and licking milk off a bowl or standing in the corner like a school child being punished, without portraying it as humiliation, is a delicate balance that, frankly, no other actress can achieve. The Aussie icon you see in every AMC ad (except for this one, for some reason!) stars in about five or six projects a year and keeps proving her talent. There's a reason why she's being touted for Best Actress during the current award season; this is her one-woman show.
The film’s excellent supporting cast also bolsters Kidman’s performance. Harris Dickinson truly understands the assignment as Samuel, the equivalent of a manic pixie fuckboi who can read people easily, but one you can't seem to figure out yourself. He has this type of seductive magnetism that allows Romy to figure out her freak shit without ever teetering their dynamic toward romance because that's truly not what this movie is.
Besides Dickinson, the other younger cast members are fantastic. I liked Esther McGregor's performance as Romy's rebellious, lesbian daughter Isabel, who has a non-monogamous affair in the background. The brief conversations they share about Isabel's romantic life lowkey inspire, if not enable, Romy to explore her fun time with Samuel, even though Isabel has no idea what's going on. I also adore Sophie Wilde, who plays Romy's assistant, and while, at first, she isn’t given much to do, she single-handedly subverts the entire film with one scene that stayed with me since my first (inebriated) watch. Gen-Z characters play a strong role in this, and the film follows a progressive affair while being open to being freaky.
How can I forget Antonio Banderas as her husband, Jacob? He's in all his usual suaveness, yet combines his charm with a homey demeanor, enticing one to join Romy's quest for pleasure. Even though he's literally Antonio Banderas. Do you understand how good of a writer you must be to convince me that Antonio Banderas can’t make Nicole Kidman finish? Halina's mind, man.
Final Thoughts
Halina Reijn's Babygirl is a horny holiday joy bolstered by a remarkable Nicole Kidman performance that stands as one of the best films of 2024. It's smart, sexy, intoxicating, wildly subversive, and a reminder of why we come to this place* for magic.
*the movies.
Rating: 4.5/5
