Babygirl promises to deliver a thrilling story about power, sexuality, and desires, but it ends up leaving us wanting more.
Director: Halina Rejn
Genre: Erotic thriller
Run Time: 114′
Venice World Premiere: August 30, 2024
U.S. Release Date: December 25, 2024
U.K. Release Date: January 10, 2025
Where to Watch: in theaters
At the initial presentation of the Venice Film Festival programme, artistic director Alberto Barbera described Babygirl as an erotic thriller. That alone – along with the names attached to it, namely Bodies Bodies Bodies’ director Halina Reijn, its main actress Nicole Kidman and rising star Harris Dickinson – immediately drew my attention to the film, which soon became one of the most anticipated titles of the whole festival for most of the people I spoke to. However, none of this prepared me for what the movie actually had to offer.
Babygirl follows a high-ranking CEO, Romy (Nicole Kidman, of A Family Affair). Her life initially seems almost perfect: despite the pressure at work, she has a loving family with her husband Jacob (Antonio Banderas, of Puss in Boots) and their two daughters. However, everything changes when she meets Samuel (Harris Dickinson, of Scrapper), a charming intern who has just started working for her company. As she embarks on this forbidden romance with a significantly younger man, Romy risks jeopardising both her career and personal life while exploring her fantasies and desires.
While it was described as an erotic thriller, most of Babygirl feels more like a comedy, as the audience who attended my early morning screening proved by constantly reacting to the film and often laughing out loud. It truly is a movie best enjoyed with a big crowd that is going to engage with both its most humorous moments as well as its most shocking ones. Once we approach it as a comedy, Reijn’s latest film works really well, its excellent pacing and editing only adding to the humour and satire. This is also true for the acting, especially from Dickinson, who once again proves his excellency as a comedic actor after his role in Triangle of Sadness.
The acting sets Babygirl apart more than anything else. Dickinson and Kidman are excellent opposite each other, especially in the most dramatic scenes of conflict. It is a testament to Kidman’s talent but also an important test for Dickinson, a relatively new face in the entertainment industry, which he passes with flying colours, delivering one of the most compelling performances of the movie. Despite Dickinson and Kidman’s best efforts, however, the film’s commentary on the intertwined issues of power relationships and female pleasure doesn’t quite land as much as I would have hoped it to.
Unfortunately, the characters could have been explored a lot better in Babygirl. For example, Romy often refers to her turbulent childhood but this is never really spoken about at length or shown at all during the movie. The same thing happens to Samuel, the male protagonist, whose background, thoughts and dreams remain a mystery for the audience. Instead, the lack of backstories on all the important characters makes them seem one-dimensional and ultimately uninteresting. It also hurts the overall narrative and stakes of the film, as the audience struggles to feel for and care about characters we know very little about.
Overall, Babygirl is a well-executed film from a technical point of view and an impressive feat from the main cast involved, and this undoubtedly makes it an enjoyable film. However, the themes and issues it discusses, such as the age-gap relationship and the matter of female pleasure and sexuality, have also been touched upon in other recent films in much more innovative and successful ways. With such an inevitable comparison with what came before it, I am not sure how much Babygirl adds to the conversation other than a few laughs during its runtime.
Babygirl had its World Premiere at the Venice Film Festival on August 30, 2024. The film will be released in US theaters on December 25, 2024 and in UK & Irish cinemas on January 10, 2025. Read our list of films to watch at the 2024 Venice Film Festival!
