In ‘Babygirl,’ a Seductively Sharp Nicole Kidman Walks a Dangerous Line Between Fantasy and Power

Alci Rengifo

Our imaginations can be dangerous terrain because it is the only place where we are truly and absolutely free. Even more dangerous is when we cross that line from fantasy to reality. That is the secret to good erotic thrillers. They can be really about what’s going on inside our minds suddenly being let loose. Halina Reijn’s “Babygirl” gets it from the very first scene. Nicole Kidman’s character pants and gasps while making love to her husband, seeming to be enjoying it. After they appear to climax, she dashes off to truly reach orgasm by watching porn. What actually excites her has nothing to do with what was just going on in bed. Reijn’s film is a throwback of sorts to a kind of erotic thriller we don’t get much anymore in these anxiety-prone, sexless times in movies. It’s also a sly deconstructing of the genre, winking at us as the clothes come off.

Romy (Kidman) is both an erotic thriller archetype and portrait of a modern, successful woman. She’s the CEO of an e-commerce company named Tensile Automation in New York, renowned for using robots to operate its warehouses. Her domestic life looks pretty ideal. She is married to Jacob (Antonio Banderas), who is a respected theater director who seems caring and speaks in woke language. They have two bright teen daughters (Esther McGregor and Vaughan Reilly). While Romy rakes in success with her company, touting the glories of robotics replacing human workers, she endures not having her real sexual desires fulfilled. In a crowded street she then locks eyes with Samuel (Harris Dickinson), a handsome intern who saves her from a dog. He turns out to be an intern for Tensile. When he begins teasing her at office events with direct, even rude inquiries, Romy keeps her cool. When he progresses to outright flirting in an upfront, domineering way, they have a tryst during which Samuel seems to actually know what Romy wants sexually.

For Halina Reijn, “Babygirl” is a welcome, versatile film to follow her 2022 romp “Bodies Bodies Bodies,” a bloody satire about Gen Z and influencer culture. Reijn’s obvious points of reference here are movies like “9½ Weeks” and “Unfaithful.” Some of the story patterns are familiar while being intelligently updated. The director’s screenplay is not seeking to make some “cougar” flick. There is more humor than expected hiding underneath the surface. Romy turns the tables on corporate representation, being the boss and getting turned on by Samuel defying her and becoming “in charge” when they’re alone in a hotel room. Having it all, the CEO’s fantasy is to be sexually submissive. Increasing the excitement is the danger of it all. For Romy, S&M takes on a truly dangerous tone considering all the corporate office rules she’s shattering. Reijn films the encounters with erotic flare, never showing too much and just enough. She understands it’s the idea of sex that can be as stimulating as the act itself, especially with S&M. Kidman and Dickinson’s bodies surely get attention, yet there’s not an obsessive emphasis on sweaty, gyrating bodies. The soundtrack does have fun with ‘80s needle drops and an original, “Leash” by Sky Ferreira that feels plucked right out of the era.

Kidman, undoubtedly an attractive woman at 57, has been commended for really going for it in this film. The brilliance in her performance is the hints at dark humor she subtly injects into the role. When she licks milk from a plate or practically begs Samuel, there’s irony hidden in the delivery. Romy may be a capitalist master but her imagination has overtaken her peace of mind. A multimillionaire is as human as everyone else, only with more liberty to chase after what they want. There is nothing puritanical about Romy or her husband. They are both supportive of gay daughter Isabel (Esther McGregor) and even freely discuss her frequency of partners nonchalantly. What Romy may be faulted for is her not being open with Jacob about her needs, which could be because he is so bland in bed. Not everyone wants the same old, missionary position until orgasm routine forever. Like a corporate office, Romy’s physical needs have been trapped in a cold, sterile environment. The great debate is whether that gives her license to endanger everything she has with Samuel.

Reijn may be subtly critiquing the culture Romy works in, but never her as an individual. Kidman makes the character vulnerable and also convincingly flawed. She never seems to find the space to finally move longtime assistant Esme (Sophie Wilde) up the corporate ladder while blindly heading towards a cliff. As a woman, she already has to deal with success in a male-dominated environment. A co-worker who seems fine today can suddenly become a creeper tomorrow if they uncover the wrong information. There’s a great scene where Samuel somehow ends up at the family dining room table, meeting Jacob and the girls. He has a good reason to be here, but for Romy it is a stark lesson in the minefields that reckless behavior lays out. In another scene, she lashes out at Jacob with a truly stinging confession in bed. It takes a good actor to maneuver these mood swings and Kidman does it with a strong presence. She has played wives with hidden inner lives before, most notably in Stanley Kubrick’s “Eyes Wide Shut” 25 years ago. In that one, she plays a young wife confessing to her husband (Tom Cruise, who she was actually married to at the time) about an erotic fantasy she had with another man while on vacation, sending him into a jealous tailspin. Romy is an older, more experienced version willing to take risks.

The erotic thriller has become a sort of lost genre in contemporary cinema. With studies showing Gen Z prefers platonic relationships in films and TV, few filmmakers attempt it. “Babygirl” proves it can still be relevant. Desire is simply a permanent part of human existence, even in late stage capitalism where AI is coming for us all. Harris Dickinson is also subverting erotic thriller clichés. He plays Samuel as a guy who can read Romy’s wants but isn’t necessarily the macho, know all charmer of past variations. He too is blind to the pitfalls he is creating for himself. Antonio Banderas is so gloriously tragic in this movie as well. Famous for so long as a Spanish lover on screen, Banderas becomes the dutiful husband who basically squeaks when he realizes he doesn’t really know his wife as well as he thinks. Even attempting to apply feminist jargon doesn’t help him. “Babygirl” then becomes more fun and stinging than a turn on. It even flirts with farce while exploring that the imagination is a terrible thing to waste, summoning needs that, like the economy, if unexplored can drive one over a cliff.

“Babygirl” releases Dec. 25 in theaters nationwide.