David R. Walker

Archive for the ‘Halina Reijn’ Category

Babygirl

Director: Halina Reijn

Cast: Nicole Kidman, Antonio Banderas, Harris Dickinson, Esther McGregor

Running time: 1 hour 54 minutes

Film Rating: 7.5 out of 10

When a film opens with Oscar winner Nicole Kidman (The Hours) having an orgasm after watching porn, audiences must know that Babygirl is going to be a kinky cinematic adventure.

Dutch director Halina Reiijn fully explores female sexuality from a unique perspective that of a woman in absolute power who soon starts unravelling sexually and emotionally when she begins an illicit affair with a much younger man.

In this case, Kidman who is absolutely superb in this film, plays the gorgeous Tech tycoon Romy who meets the arrogant and cocky Samuel, a fantastic performance by Harris Dickinson (Triangle of Sadness, Where the Crawdads Sing) who really shows his acting abilities especially in some of the more bizarre sex scenes with Kidman involving milk and submission.

Romy is a successful corporate executive in New York who is married to a rather emasculated theatre director Jacob, strangely played by Oscar nominee Antonio Banderas (Pain and Glory) and they have two daughters. But Romy wants more after she sees the tough and creepy Samuel, a new hot intern who arrives at the Tech firm after glimpsing his power to control a vicious German shepherd on a Manhattan sidewalk.

Halina Reijn who wrote and directed Babygirl explores some fascinating topics from fetishism to gender power dynamics, to lust and loyalty. The constant games between Samuel and Romy shift between desire and domination.

Where Reijn goes wrong in this film, unlike such classics as Adrian Lyne’s Fatal Attraction is that Samuel is not vicious enough as a character but he becomes a tool for Romy’s own sexual fantasies. Even when Samuel starts invading Romy’s private life and she reasserts her power over him, there is no sense of menace besides the odd display of aggression.

Unfortunately Antonio Banderas’s character is very badly written and he comes across as a flaccid, aging husband that does not have the stamina to satisfy Romy’s intense sexual urges.

Some of Reijn’s shots in this film are brilliant especially the underground rave scene in Manhattan whereby Romy pretends she is still 25, when in fact she is a drug induced cougar. Other scenes especially some of the sex scenes are so strange and repetitive that as a viewer I was waiting for the climax of this frustrated love triangle.

Eventually Romy and Jacob’s marriage unravels to a point whereby confession is the only salvation. Samuel as a strong, desirable young man just views Romy as another sexual conquest, a game to be played until all the rules have been broken.

Babygirl is going to divide audiences but as a film it is sexually provocative and in no ways thrilling. For a film to be a thriller that would involve a gun and a murder.

Nicole Kidman deserves all the acting accolades after winning the Best Actress prize at the 2024 Venice International Film Festival. It was interesting to see British actor Harris Dickinson take on a more substantial role as a devious leading man.

If you enjoy bizarre sex scenes and power games, then watch Babygirl now. The first half of this film was brilliant but soon like any infatuation the thrill wears off quickly.

Babygirl gets a film rating of 7.5 out of 10. Recommended viewing if you enjoy art house cinema.