Babygirl (2024)

	Directed by: Halina Reijn	COUNTRY USA GENRE Erotic drama/Thriller NORWEGIAN TITLE Babygirl RUNNING TIME 115 minutes
	Produced by: David Hinojosa Halina Reijn Julia Oh
	Written by: Halina Reijn

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Romy Mathis	Nicole Kidman
Samuel	Harris Dickinson
Jacob Mathis	Antonio Banderas
Esme	Sophie Wilde	½
Isabel Mathis	Esther McGregor
Nora Mathis	Vaughan Reilly	-
Hedda / Scarlet	Gaite Jansen	-

Review

A high-powered, no-nonsense corporate CEO (Nicole Kidman) has everything going for her and likes to be in charge of things – except for in the bedroom. She's never been sexually satisfied by her husband of 19 years (Antonio Banderas), when she meets a young, fumbling intern (Harris Dickinson), who might just share her particular desires. Dubbed as the comeback of the erotic thriller, a subgenre that had its heyday in the early 1990s, Babygirl actually has much more in common with its most obvious inspiration, Secretary from 2002. Though, contrary to E. Edward Gray's situation in that film – a boss at the office who also enjoyed being the boss in his sexual encounters – Romy Mathis has much more trouble reconciling her sexual preferences with her professional persona. This conflict is arguably one of this film's strongest points. Writer/director Halina Reijn's raw, naturalistic approach gives the film realism, but it's a frustrating form of realism: We're let in on the characters' inner secrets and urges, but we're constantly kept in the dark about the machinations that govern them. Romy and Samuel are novices in their own world, giving Kidman and Dickinson numerous scenes to explore and display their chops, which they do with proud boldness, but few in which the film offers us any release. We're invited to observe, not to take part and feel. And the strangely moralistic Banderas character, who is supposed to represent the viewer in some way, doesn't seem to belong, neither in the film nor in Romy's world.