Review: Babygirl

Directed by: Halina Reijn

Written by: Halina Reijn

Starring: Nicole Kidman, Harris Dickinson, Sophie Wilde, Antonio Banderas, Esther McGregor

Rating: [2.5/5]

Any film tackling the subject of sex and shame head-on deserves credit given the fairly puritanical society we live in here in the United States. Allowing audiences to sit with the discomfort of these conversations makes for interesting stories, especially one like Babygirl, which goes into even more taboo subject matter. While this film contains plenty of bravery, its lack of conviction left far too much on the table and leaves behind this limp depiction of sexuality. 

Living the perfect life with her loving family and crushing it professionally as a CEO of a robotics company, Romy (Nicole Kidman) finds a fascination in one of the new interns, Samuel (Harris Dickinson). Following their first interaction, she enjoys how he tells her what to do, and once the relationship turns sexual, she discovers that she feels a sexual gratification she never had before when with her husband, leading to a raunchy affair. 

Inappropriate sexual relationships between an employee and a subordinate have served as the topic for many films as they tackle the impact it may have on them in the workplace and at home. However, they usually fall into a typical pattern of the man having the higher position and the woman being the subordinate. Babygirl flips that dynamic but also adds that the sexual gratification does not lie solely in that it must remain secret but rather in a woman discovering exactly what she likes in sex and battling the shame that comes with it. In the case of Romy, vanilla sex with her husband does not help her reach a climax, and she needs something different. This does not necessarily stem from an inability on his front but rather from something she did not quite know she needed until now. 

The dynamic she builds with Samuel takes her down a spiral where only he can seemingly understand exactly what she needs even if she refuses to admit it at first. It becomes humiliating and degrading, which for many people would cross a line, and rightly so, but for Romy it ticks a specific box that satisfies something in her unlike anything else. She has this shame about it because of the work power dynamic and her infidelity, but also something much more deeply rooted. This element of this sexual awakening is presented as the most captivating thread to follow, but the film does not fully interrogate it. Romy’s shame gets glossed over with more sequences of this degradation, where it goes in the direction of displaying the external consequences rather than remaining something internal for her. I never want to critique a film for being something it’s not, but in this instance, it teases its most compelling idea and just brushes right by it. 

Another aspect of the narrative that did not just work came in the casting of Harris Dickinson as Samuel. Don’t get me wrong, Dickinson has the looks one would want in such a role, but something about his demeanor and that ridiculous stubble of a mustache at the beginning just never allowed me to take him seriously. It made the moments where he tries to boss her around with the intention of being sexy a bit laughable and mostly took me out of the scene. Dickenson does not typically disappoint, but either the direction he received or his interpretation of this character did not work, especially in comparison to this incredible performance by Nicole Kidman. 

A star who has reached the pinnacle of their career can be forgiven for phoning it in at times, but it appears Nicole Kidman refuses to avoid challenging roles. Portraying a character like Romy and all of the compromising positions she finds herself in invariably takes bravery from any actor taking on the role. Kidman, a veteran extraordinaire, knew she could pull this off, and she certainly did. She displayed all of the vulnerability of this character so valiantly and helped make Romy so fascinating, but if only the story did her the same justice. 

All build-up and no real release, Babygirl has the willingness to tackle sensitive material and delve into women’s sexuality in ways not seen often. It deserves credit for this fact, but it never quite delves deep or punctuates any of the points it seeks to delve into, leaving me with the same dissatisfaction Romy evidently had with her sex life with her husband. By the way, how dare they cast Antonio Banderas in a role where he could not sexually gratify his wife? Yet another aspect of the film that did not feel believable.