Directed By Halina Reijn

Starring – Nicole Kidman, Harris Dickinson, Antonio Banderas

The Plot – High-powered CEO, Romy (Kidman) puts her career and family on the line when she begins a torrid affair with her much-younger intern, Samuel, (Dickinson), setting both of them off in a battle for power with unpredictable twists and turns.

Rated R for strong sexual content, nudity and adult language.

Babygirl | Official Trailer HD | A24

POSITIVES

Even in 2024, female sexualization is still a tender topic among the mainstream masses, and while that timid approach to the subject scintillatingly feeds into the power dynamic that drives Kidman’s character, Reijn gives her the freedom to enthusiastically unlock her vulnerabilities, effortlessly eliciting a consensual eroticism, as a result, that makes this one of the sexier engagements that I can remember in recent memory. Being a female in a male-dominated industry, Romy typically finds herself defined by those things that others need her to be, instead of exploring her own emotional intuitions, and as a result the longing of her suppression starts to bleed over into her personal life, leading her to seek in Samuel what she lacks in a perfect career and lovingly supportive family, to which Reijn illustrates so much tender meaning and insight in the range of her expressive direction. As to where most films centering around the seduction of a middle aged woman will involve an undesirable and even abusive spouse, the decision to cast Banderas as such evokes a deeper psychological significance to Romy’s own inferiorities, where despite having everything she could ever dream, it’s peace of mind that ultimately eludes her, with the major aphrodisiac in her newfound relationship with Samuel being the continued risk of losing it all, should he feel the urge to ruin her life with one phone call. Because Reijn centers so much mystique and secrecy surrounding this dynamic at the forefront of the narrative, it’s fun to pin down just who is in control at any given moment, and though Romy is doing something irredeemable like cheating on her husband and two children, Reijn’s direction never shames her in such, instead conveying humanity into the insight attained in the way Romy acts while around Samuel, which initially begins as a physical attraction, before evolving into two scattered pieces that fit so well together, where one has what the other one lacks. While we learn very little about Samuel, we can understand from Dickinson’s initially timid and reserved deliveries that his youth and undesirable position as a company intern affords him the dominance of being in control of someone so powerfully influential and endlessly well-off than he’s ever experienced, and that newfound role in being a dominant takes his character to the doorstep of greed and collateral damage, resulting in an inevitability to stakes and circumstances that anyone in the audience can see from a mile away, but ones integral to the development of these characters, who act emotionally instead of logically. Reijn’s screenwriting lacks anything of complexity, as the story is approached quite topically and surface level, however it doesn’t exactly need to be, as the visuals and technique of her presentation tells us so much more than exposition ever could, particularly during those hot and steamy sex scenes that are shot with such artistic significance to the pocketed male dynamics within Romy’s life. When she’s with her husband Samuel, it is executed without an underlining score and with individualized framing that makes the conflict feel so impersonal and lacking conductivity, yet with Samuel channels these rhythmic hymns involving incoherently animalistic voices and softly sensual handheld cinematography, courtesy of Jasper Wolf, that breeds claustrophobia and passionate intimacy. The sex itself and graphic nature of the imagery doesn’t feel exploitative or tasteless in the way it’s tenderly orchestrated, with timely edits of bodily muscles, hand placements, and especially facial registries allowing us to feel just as much as we see, and though the games of dominant and submissive between Romy and Samuel does take the material down some strangely bizarre places to an inexperienced audience, Reijn’s grip on the scene’s integrity keeps it from slipping into slightly comedic waters, particularly in the way she impressively commands Kidman and Dickinson to commit themselves to the movie’s cause. We don’t give Kidman enough credit, because she truly is one of the greatest actresses of our time, but here she channels that impressive range with initialized stoic imposition turned to tepidly tender vulnerability, and the impasse feels like her character is continuously on the edge of losing her sanity, especially when confronting overwhelming jealousies during the second half that sees her feeling unrestrained. As for Dickinson, he’s every bit the physical spectrum that the movie and Romy need him to be, but with an equally compelling air of ambiguity that makes Samuel such a dangerous X-factor in this psychological chess game, particularly when Dickinson palpable immaturity in youth ignites the flame that is his contempt for matters not going exactly his way.

NEGATIVES

Labeling ‘Babygirl’ as an erotic thriller feels a bit improper in a script with no shortage of the former, and not enough to the latter, leaving the stakes of this game of cat and mouse feeling a bit undercooked to what was initially advertised in the marketing trailers. One will inevitably argue this with how much Romy has to risk in her daily afternoon delights with Samuel, but the tension and suspense are never maximized and imbedded to the script in ways that surmise many on-the-edge close calls for what Romy is constantly risking in her daily interactions with Samuel, instead dividing these worlds, day and night, that are rarely put in direct correlation with one another, especially once more people catch on to their under the table relationship. For my money, the film would hit so much harder if it built more of an elevated climax, as the third act comes and goes with about as much relevance and intrigue as a single firework in a baseball stadium filled with people, leading to an underwhelming ending that I considered too neat and tidy to feel realistic. While the conflicts are resolved in ways that are evidential and impactful to audience interpretation, they come at the result of dramatic character shifts far too unbelievable to feel satisfying, making the film feel like it ran out of time, instead of reached the intended destination of its 109-minute exploration. I personally think this is where so much of the moviegoing negativity to the movie is stemming from, as such a steamily intoxicating engagement unfortunately leads to such a limp series of final moments that send the audience home unfulfilled at the moments the conflict was finally reaching the surface level, which even in my case took the film down a whole point in my overall grading scale. Finally, I previously commended Samuel’s ambiguity as an air of uncertain intrigue to the tenderness of the stakes and circumstances of Romy’s life, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed by the lack of eventual development paid to his character, especially as the script ties more characters to him in ways that should’ve crafted dimensions for the power struggle at the forefront of the narrative. One such example involves him starting a relationship with another girl at the office, and not only does it go nowhere in terms of exploration and relevance, but we never see the allusion to what it gives him that he lacks in Romy, as articulated by him in the dialogue, and it becomes one of the sacrificial lambs to slaughter in a movie that refuses to steer too far away from its primary protagonist.

OVERALL
‘Babygirl’ is a provocatively sexy and thought-provoking cat-and-mouse game exploring the complexities of insatiable desire within a power struggle that transcends societal conventions. With tenderly tantalizing direction from Halina Reijn, as well as gently glowing chemistry from Kidman and Dickinson, the film’s salacious seduction in mesmerizing radiance helps to exceed on its premature shortcomings in satisfying payoffs, eliciting a comfortably confident film that dissects suppressed female sexuality in its most animalistically uncontrollable extents.

My Grade: 7/10 or B-