Banner image: Credit: Niko Tavernise
Writer-director Halina Reijn’s Babygirl has been making waves since the debut of its trailer last year. The idea of a sex-positive, female-led erotic thriller inspired by 90s classics like Basic Instinct and Indecent Proposal was exciting. And, in a post-#MeToo world, flipping the genre cliché of powerful-older-man and younger-inexperienced-woman on its head still feels like a novelty. So, now it’s in cinemas, how does Babygirl actually measure up?
Nicole Kidman plays Romy, the 50-something CEO of a successful robotics company. She’s a woman who seemingly has it all. She’s a well-respected leader and a powerful mentor to her young female employees. She has a fabulous wardrobe, a slick NYC apartment, and a grand country house. Plus, she’s a loving, attentive mother – when she isn’t distracted by her phone – to two teenage daughters, and has an adoring (rather overwhelmingly so) theatre director husband, Jacob (a salt-and-pepper-bearded Antonio Banderas).
But, while it’s clear from the very first scene that Romy and Jacob still have lots of sex, we soon learn that Romy is keeping a secret: her husband is unable to make her orgasm. It’s suggested that this isn’t Jacob’s issue, but Romy’s; her desire to remain perfectly self-possessed and in control, and her refusal to admit what she actually wants – to herself or her husband – are leaving her unsatisfied. Romy grew up in a chaotic cult, we learn, and there’s something about her shiny new life she wants to break free from.

But then she meets Samuel (Harris Dickinson), a 20-something intern who’s just started working at her company. From the start, he picks up on what Romy really wants: to be told what to do. His youthful confidence intrigues her from the start, and, while his cocky insouciance could easily be off-putting, Dickinson’s charm stops the audience (and Romy) from being turned off. Soon, the two are involved in an illicit affair where he’s dominant and she’s submissive, and Romy realises this is what she’s been missing.
Their first tryst is more clumsy than sexy. They meet at a rather shabby hotel we assume Samuel must have booked. Samuel, at varying points, orders Romy to stand in the corner, eat sweets from his hand, get on all fours, and drink milk from a saucer. “Can you just try it?” he asks, frustrated, when she, understandably, doesn’t seem keen to crawl around the floor in her pencil skirt and heels. But, after the awkwardness, they finally get to it. From behind, Samuel finally brings her to a climax that her forward-facing, eye-gazing, doting husband has been unable to do.
For all its supposed BDSM hype, Babygirl isn’t sexually explicit. You don’t see much (although Kidman does bare her impressively toned nude body), and the soft lighting and slow choreography make the scenes more intimate than sexy. The two talk about a safe word, but never come close to actually needing it. What begins to feel unsafe is Romy’s carefully gilded life. “You’re very young, I don’t want to hurt you,” she says to Samuel early on…but it’s his impulsivity that threatens to hurt her: “I could make one call and you lose everything.”

Where Babygirl succeeds is in its performance. Kidman is mesmerising in what’s an unusually bold role for her, sex scenes aside; while Kidman has always insisted she’s entirely natural, her character is seen going to great lengths to remain wrinkle-free, from checking in for cryotherapy sessions to having regular botox and filler injections (the latter of which, her eldest daughter says mockingly, make her look like “dead fish”). And, while his character can be infuriating, Dickinson gives an unusually layered performance. Banderas is the real scene stealer, however, and is easily the emotional heart of the film.
But Babygirl also disappoints. The plot drifts pleasantly along but doesn’t really go anywhere. Danger is hinted at but never materialises. For all its “erotic thriller” hype, the film isn’t thrilling. It doesn’t go to the gritty, edgier places you want it to. While watching, I couldn’t help comparing it to The Substance, another recent film starring an iconic middle-aged actress (Demi Moore). While the genres are different (The Substance is a horror), I found myself wishing Babygirl had been a little braver. It didn’t need the same explosive end as The Substance, but a few minor explosions along the way, a few turns down darker alleys, would have helped it feel less flat.
Ultimately, fans of Kidman and Banderas will enjoy their performances, and Dickinson, a relative newcomer in Hollywood, looks set to stay on the scene.
Babygirl is showing in UK cinemas now.
Are you planning to watch Babygirl? Or have you seen it? If so, let us know what you think in the comments below.