BABYGIRL

USA | 2024 | 114m | English

Cast: Nicole Kidman, Harris Dickinson, Sophie Wilde, Antonio Banderas

Director(s): Halina Reijn

When Romy, the high-powered executive played by Nicole Kidman in Babygirl, starts cheating on her urbane theatre director husband (Antonio Banderas), it’s not because their sex life has dimished. As the opening scene explicitly demonstrates, there’s still significant heat between them. But when he goes to sleep, Romy sneaks out of the room to finish, alone, what she clearly couldn’t achieve with him.

When Romy meets Samuel (Harris Dickinson), an impertinent intern at her company who can intuit more about her than she intends to share — and who’s happy to take control — it’s only a matter of time before they find themselves in a seedy hotel together. They wrestle, literally and figuratively, over a twisty power dynamic. Romy’s age and position give her an advantage, but as Samuel reminds her, he could ruin her life with one phone call.

By some definitions, the film is an erotic thriller, but writer-director Halina Reijn (Bodies Bodies Bodies) is more interested in exploring complex emotional truths than playing by genre rules. Babygirl may evoke some comparisons to Steven Shainberg’s Secretary (TIFF ’02), but surface similarities aside, it’s something entirely its own.

Courtesy Of TIFF

TIFF 24 REVIEW BY: DARREN ZAKUS

DATE: SEPTEMBER 18, 2024

RATING: 4 out of 5

Babygirl features one of the best performances of Nicole Kidman’s entire career that brings to life Halina Reijn’s erotic thriller to create one of the most intoxicating and enthralling films of the year.

Hot off winning the Volpi Cup for Best Actress award at the Venice International Film Festival for Nicole Kidman’s performance, writer and director Halina Reijn’s third feature film landed on North American soil at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. Reijn’s films have featured female lead characters in unique situations that explored complex questions she possessed, while never failing to keep audiences’ eyes glued to the screen. Following up the hit A24 black horror comedy Bodies Bodies Bodies, Reijn’s latest film calls back to the erotic thrillers of the 1980s and 90s, but bringing a female perspective to the subgenre with Babygirl. Posing the question of whether you can love all parts of yourself including the parts that you don’t show to anyone else, the film tackles sexuality and gender dynamics with an unflinching honesty and directness with a trio of phenomenal performances from Kidman, Harris Dickinson and Antonio Banderas, that makes for one film that truly bares it all that awards watchers won’t want to miss.

Inspired by classic erotic thrillers like Basic Instinct and Indecent Proposal, but with the fresh perspective of being told from a female lens, Reijn’s newest film has a lot to say. While an erotic thriller at heart following Romy’s relationship with a much younger intern at her company, Babygirl is a cautionary tale about suppressing the beast within and the reckoning that ensues when that same beast is awoken. It's an intelligent, relationship driven character study of Romy and the consequences that her decision has upon her marriage, her job and herself, exploring gender and power dynamics. Reijn is careful never to pass judgment on any character in her screenplay, instead allowing her characters to be human, make mistakes and grow from them. This allows the drama to unfold naturally on screen, to catch the audience off guard with certain developments in the story and leave them enthralled by the events that unfold in the film. From start to finish, Reijn crafts a top quality adult drama that not only will entertain and leave audiences stunned by the sheer brilliance of the film, but will leave them pondering the themes and questions explored like any great film should do.

Kidman has long reigned as one of the most celebrated actresses currently working today, with unforgettable performances in Moulin Rouge! and Big Little Lies that garnered major awards attention, and more crowd pleasing films like Aquaman and Just Go With It. But for her latest role as Romy, Kidman is bearing it all with one of her most vulnerable performances to date. As a female CEO, Kidman brings a tough nature to Romy that has allowed her to succeed in business, but that is merely one aspect of the character. Underneath her steely veneer, Kidman infuses Romy with a sexual curiosity birthed out of wanting more than the usual sex with her husband and a dark beast within that she has kept caged for too long. It’s Kidman unlike you have seen her before with a rawness as Romy finds herself in the most vulnerable positions she has ever been in, while building an empowering arc over the course of the film as she embraces her darker side and finds a new strength. Her shining moment is the undressing scene during which Kidman bares it all, physically, emotionally and psychologically with a gripping vulnerability, delivering the most powerful and impressive acting moment of the entire film… all set to the brilliant needle drop of George Michael’s “Father Figure” which is one of the best needle drops of the year. It’s an all encompassing and demanding role that requires vulnerability, daringness and strength, allowing Kidman to give a tour de force performance that is not only one of the best performances of her career, but one that should rightfully earn her her sixth Academy Award nomination.

While this film is a showcase for Kidman’s performance, the story requires a strong supporting cast, and Dickinson, Banderas, and Sophie Wilde all deliver impressive performances. Dickinson is commanding as Samuel, the young intern that Romy begins a sexual relationship with, towering over the film with a deeply unsettling performance. Despite the age difference, the power dynamic Dickinson creates with Kidman results in a complex and terrific screen pairing that helps to bolster Reijn’s vision for the story. On the other hand, Banderas is warm, kind and deeply sexy as Romy’s husband Jacob, posing the question to the audience of why Romy would ever leave him. Banderas’s performance informs the audience that this story is all about self-discovery for Romy, not that there is something wrong with the relationship between Romy and Jacob that drives her to Samuel. There are more complex emotional moments to Banderas’ performance that will generate audible gasps amongst viewers as Banderas is that good in the film, and it’s great he is back with a more nuanced performance after largely starring in blockbuster films in the past few years. Wilde goes toe to toe with Kidman in some pivotal scenes that highlight the themes that Reijn is playing with, and she does so with a grace and strength that creates one of the most shocking moments of the film between her and Kidman, proving her talents as a young actress.

In such a daring and seductive film, the “Father Figure” needle drop may be too much for some viewers to handle, but Halina Reijn and Nicole Kidman bring all the heat and more in their latest erotic thriller. Armed with an intelligence as she explores gender and power dynamics in the context of embracing one’s inner sexual delights, Halina Reijn has created one of the most intoxicating and provocative thrillers of the year that provides Nicole Kidman with the material for one of her most stunning performances to date. Daring, seductive and empowering, Halina Reijn has crafted a truly outstanding erotic thriller with Babygirl that features two great performances from Harris Dickinson and Antonio Banderas, but it is the amazing lead performance from Nicole Kidman that will simultaneously leave viewers speechless and flustered.