The erotic thriller has been a critically endangered species in modern cinema, with the once prolific genre almost completely disappearing from movie theaters. Writer/director Halina Reijn is looking to change this with her latest effort.
Babygirl introduces us to automation company CEO Romy Mathis (Nicole Kidman) who lives in New York City with her Broadway director husband Jacob (Antonio Banderas) and their daughters Isabel (Esther McGregor) and Nora (Vaughan Reilly). On the surface, Romy and Jacob have a healthy marriage and idyllic life, but are my is hiding her dissatisfaction with their sex life and yearning for more intense intimacy. Romy soon encounters a younger, more forward intern named Samuel (Harris Dickinson) who recognizes her yearning and aims to satisfy it. They soon embark upon an illicit love affair that threatens everything.
German sociologist Robert Michels famously once said that “Everything is about sex, except sex: sex is about power.” While Babygirl is ostensibly about an extramarital affair, thematically, it is an exploration about the nature of power; namely, what people do with it once they realize that they hold it. From the film’s very first scene, the audience is show that Romy is a woman who is deeply unsatisfied within her marriage, longing for a physical intimacy and intensity that her husband is unwilling to give. Her suppressed desires leave her vulnerable to Samuel’s seduction and directness once he recognizes her vulnerability, despite the fact that he is decades her junior in terms of age and junior to her professionally. His immediate sexual aggression toward her first comes across as unrealistic until the power dynamics come more fully into focus. For Samuel, his power over Romy derives from his ability to fulfill her deepest desires rather than his professional standing. Despite her power within their company, in this dynamic, Samuel is the powerful one.
Samuel takes full advantage of both his power to make Romy succumb to her desires and his whims and the resulting blackmail power he holds over her as a result of their affair. Their illicit tryst eventually results in others within their orbit propositioning Romy for something in return for keeping the secret hidden. All of these players in this story are confronted with choices once they realize they have leverage over Romy and they choose to take advantage of it to varying degrees. It’s a case study of the corruptive nature of power and of temptation, both for Romy sexually and in terms of power and control for those surrounding her. It’s a substantive commentary on human nature and the framework of an affair in which it’s presented is done well in a believable and compelling way.
Much of Babygirl’s strength can be attributed to a magnetic performance from Kidman which instantly vaults toward the top of the list of the year’s best. She is able to effectively portray the emotional vulnerability and nuance involved in having an extramarital affair, most notably in the scene where she first crosses the line sexually with Samuel in a seedy hotel room. Following the deed, Romy is overwhelmed with guilt and cries in Samuel’s arms. This display of emotional complexity following an intense, long take sex scene focused solely on Kidman’s visage makes for a balanced and realistic portrayal of sexuality that avoids gratuitousness. This is all dependent upon Kidman to capture this complexity and she effortlessly nails it. Her chemistry with the rest of the cast is believable in each pairing, beginning with Dickinson and including Banderas and McGregor as her family. Dickinson’s portrayal of Samuel is also well suited to the material, balancing young naïveté and a man taking advantage of a power dynamic that sees him in control. The film is dependent on both actors living up to the call put before them and both deliver.
Babygirl melds the erotic thriller with exploration of the nature of power and desire to create something that is both thought provoking and tantalizing. While the script itself is decent enough, what really elevates this film are the performances, led by Nicole Kidman. She commands the screen as always and plays off of both the material and her costars perfectly in a way that makes Babygirl more compelling than it probably ought to be. Harris Dickinson holds his own with acting masters like Kidman and Antonio Banderas, capturing the complication of his character Samuel. Babygirl punches above its weight class.
Image: A24
