I am unsure why the studios behind this film decided to release this erotic drama during the holiday season. Still, perhaps they hoped to duplicate Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut‘s impact in 1999. That said, Babygirl is no Eyes Wide Shut, but the movie does have some things in common: it involves a woman who seems unhappy with her sex life with her husband. The other is that this film stars Nicole Kidman, who also starred in Kubrick’s last movie. Both movies deal with sexual pleasures but in very different ways.
Babygirl tells the story of business CEO Romy Mathis (Kidman), a woman who should have it all. Though she is quite successful in her career, something is missing from her life. Though she initially seems content with her marriage to her husband Jacob (Antonio Banderas), the movie reveals a lack of passion and communication in the bedroom. Enter a younger man, Samuel (Harris Dickerson), a new intern at Romy’s company with whom the two share a mutual attraction.
Though Samuel detects a a desire, on Romy’s part, for a more dominant sexual presence in her life, he also doesn’t quite seem how to act on that. The two eventually embark on a very heated affair. However, this complicates matters when Romy considers the consequences of her behavior and how this could totally derail her career. Nevertheless, Romy and Samuel don’t know how to stop until Romy decides to end things for better or worse.
This entire film is all about sexual tension, and writer/director Halina Reijn does an incredible job of creating that feeling throughout this movie. Experiencing this movie feels right and wrong in all of the right ways, with Kidman and Dickerson sharing such incredible chemistry. Halina Reijn helms this movie with the reckless abandon needed to tell this story, and both leads follow suit so beautifully and exceptionally.
I was mostly impressed with Nicole Kidman, who leads this movie in all of the perfect ways needed to pull off her character. She gives the role the ideal complexity of emotions required and is both relatable and sometimes unlikable. I also enjoyed the supporting performance of Antonio Banderas, who credibly pulls off the role of a cuckold.
Though this movie is not the usual holiday fare nor the usual awards bait, I still highly recommend it for the intense intrigue and incredible performance by Nicole Kidman. Babygirl, for whatever reason, opens on Christmas Day.