James Berardinelli review - *** out of ****

https://www.reelviews.net/reelviews/babygirl

In interviews, writer/director Halina Reijn has indicated that inspirations for Babygirl included the ‘80s/’90s psychosexual thrillers of Paul Verhoeven and Adrian Lynne. Consequently, it will come as no surprise that, while watching this movie, one might be reminded of Fatal Attraction and Basic Instinct (although I’d be tempted to throw in a little Zalman King on the side). It’s about two damaged and scheming characters dancing around one another, manipulating and counter-manipulating until it’s unclear who’s really in charge. One area where Babygirl deviates from its antecedents, however, is in its level of violence (or relative lack thereof). The damage here is almost entirely emotional; the one physical altercation is not especially intense and no bunnies are boiled.

The movie explores aspects of female sexuality that many movies (made by men) avoid. Although at times lurid, Babygirl lacks the fantasy elements evident in Fifty Shades of Grey, although the female leads in both films have a fascination with submission in sex. That’s not to argue this movie is any more real than the tawdry Fifty Shades – the characters often act in certain ways because of the needs of the plot – but there’s an honesty to the affair that is compelling. The two leads – Romy (Nicole Kidman) and Samuel (Harris Dickinson) – are neither naïve nor likable. But they are drawn together like moths to a flame and their congress causes collateral damage to Romy’s family. There’s no love or pretense of love – simply a mutual exploration of desires they are unable to express in more conventional relationships.

The competent-but-cool Romy, the CEO of a robotics tech firm, keeps a distance between herself and everyone else at the company except her personal assistant, Esme (Sophie Wilde). She is married to Jacob (Antonio Banderas), a theater director, and has two teenage daughters, Isabel (Esther McGregor) and Nora (Vaughan Reilly). Although Romy and Jacob share what appears to be an idyllic, loving marriage, she is sexually frustrated. After satisfying Jacob in bed, Romy retires to another room where she watches porn and brings herself to orgasm. Her lack of sexual satisfaction, coupled with fetishistic desires (primarily in the BDSM field) she is afraid to share with her husband, make Romy vulnerable when a self-confident intern, Samuel, shows interest. As soon as Samuel recognizes that her refusals to engage with him might be a smoke screen, he doubles down. Soon, the two are engaged in a frantic affair where the private power dynamic is the opposite of the public one.

The threat of exposure and how Reijn approaches it comprises the primary source of tension in the narrative. For Romy, the situation offers double jeopardy. Not only could she lose her job if it came to light that she was having an affair with a subordinate but if the nature of the sex was revealed, it could tarnish her publicly. Throw in questions of how it might impact her marriage and the collateral damage to her children, especially fragile Isabel, whose self-confident exterior is mostly an act, and Romy has every incentive to keep her torrid encounters with Samuel secret. This posits the question of what she will do in the event that Samuel decides to go public – something he hints at at least once (although it’s questionable whether he’s serious or this is part of the power dynamic role-playing). The movie also questions whether Romy may have an addiction to self-destructive behavior where the only way she can get off is if she has pushed her situation to the brink of catastrophe.

The most praiseworthy aspect of Babygirl is Nicole Kidman’s performance. As committed as ever, Kidman dedicates herself fully to the role and crafts a persona who is at times vulnerable and at other times almost predatory. Her approach to Romy keeps us guessing where the story is going and how it will turn out. (The ending is one of the least satisfying aspects of the movie.) Of the other actors, Harris Dickinson leans into the ambiguities of his character. Samuel is more a force of nature than a fully-formed human being. Esther McGregor (Ewan’s daughter) caught my attention. Isabel doesn’t have a lot of screen time but McGregor makes the most out of what she’s given. The scene in which she asks about Romy’s wellbeing is touching.