Babygirl, 2024.
Written and Directed by Halina Reijn.
Starring Nicole Kidman, Harris Dickinson, Antonio Banderas, Sophie Wilde, Esther-Rose McGregor, Vaughan Reilly, Victor Slezak, Leslie Silva, Gaite Jansen, Robert Farrior, Bartley Booz, Anoop Desai, Mary Ann Lamb, and Gabrielle Policano.
SYNOPSIS:
A high-powered CEO puts her career and family on the line when she begins a torrid affair with her much-younger intern.
Babygirl, ostensibly about a woman who has had dark sexual fantasies her whole life (excellently played by Nicole Kidman with convincing desire, shame, and vulnerability), feels afraid to go down the sexually taboo rabbit hole it sets up.
From writer/director Halina Reijn (and I in no way intend to imply that she has no real-life experience in that world or hasn’t done research, since what’s here comes across as a believable push/pull dynamic between right and wrong, needs and wants, while also refraining from judging its characters), the film centers on Romy, a hotshot CEO with the idyllic family life. She’s married to theatre director Jacob (Antonio Banderas), and they have two daughters (one a goody-two-shoes, the other more rebellious, tomboyish, and stubborn), Nora (Vaughan Reilly), and Isabel (Esther McGregor.) There are two problems, though: Romy doesn’t seem to find sex with Jacob satisfactory, faking orgasms and resorting to following up those encounters with private sessions of porn, not only suggesting that she craves a kinkier dynamic but also that the pressures of being in power have gotten to her to the point of wanting to give up control, especially in the bedroom.
Enter Samuel, played by Harris Dickinson and radiating the dominant energy she is seeking, instantly able to calm an angry dog escaping his owner on a bustling, busy street. Romy wants to be treated like that dog, but her fantasies go further than that, dipping into a complicated sensation towards blackmail and the idea that as things between her and the young intern gradually heat up, he has the power to instantly take everything away from her professionally and destroy her perfect family life. Harris Dickinson also fits the role well, with Samuel casually taunting and teasing Romy that he knows what she really wants, suggesting that she mentors him as a sly way to obtain some private time.
On the surface, that sounds problematically and compellingly spicy, but perhaps the biggest shock here is that the film would rather play up what’s at stake while hitting the formulaic beats of an erotic thriller. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with taking a story in a logical direction, but the cost here goes against everything this film presumably wants but is nervous to be. That’s not to say Nicole Kidman isn’t bold here, but it’s only when the film allows her to be, which is infrequently.
Perhaps more bafflingly, the bulk of sexual activity comes in a relatively tame montage that is, if nothing else, set to some well-placed needle drops that are on-the-nose but not tired, overused choices. Most disappointingly, the characters allude to traumatic backstories or complex upbringings, at one point with Samuel seeking some form of therapy within Romy for his general deviant behavior and occasional angry verbal outbursts when things don’t go his way. The script sets up a payoff about these characters that never comes. If anything, the climax (pun intended) also feels tidier than expected.
There is a moment where, after setting vaguely setting some boundaries, leaving it unclear as to the validity of the consensual nature regarding this dynamic (Romy certainly wants much of what transpires, but Samuel also frequently comes across as manipulative and twisting her mind into giving into naughty desires and kink relationships), Samuel has Romy drinking milk from a plate as if she were a pet. It’s a sample of what this movie could have been if it were more interested in completely diving into kinks. Babygirl is basing its advertising around women getting what they want this Christmas, but it is surprisingly slow and takes a sluggish amount of time actually to reach that scene. By then, it slowly becomes more about the consequential fallout, which should be obvious to anyone, even if they haven’t seen a movie before.
It also feels oddly reductive to make a film about this, but instead of indulging that character for unfiltered, saucy, freaky fun, it’s more concerned with the stakes, which, once again, are the most unoriginal part. This film also works overtime to ensure that Romy is still likable when a better film would let her be messier and much more flawed than essentially spending the first hour being roped by Samuel into adultery and feeding her cravings.
What’s more frustrating is that there is intriguing material here begging for more exploration, such as when Romy catches her angsty, non-conformative daughter making out with someone who’s not her girlfriend in the swimming pool, casually explaining that she was just having fun. It’s also one of the inciting incidents for Romy to act on her fantasies with Samuel, but one also senses an underexplored dynamic between mother and daughter. For a character walking a razor-thin line between losing everything, including her family, those family members are primarily forgotten about (which, yes, is also somewhat the point), meaning that the total weight of that dangerous possibility is never felt.
Then there is Romy’s raw confessional (brilliantly delivered through tears by Nicole Kidman) regarding the dark fantasies that have existed in her mind since childhood. Babygirl is, unfortunately, a film content to talk about some of that and briefly show glimpses of it but doesn’t dare tackle the darkness and psychology behind it.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
