Just in time for the holiday season, Babygirl‘s December 25th release showcases dark fantasies, pulse-pounding exhilaration, sexual roleplay and workplace politics within a rigid environment. You might as well wish the ongoing awards season a Merry XXXMas!
Writer-Director Halina Reijn brings a story all about wielding and yielding power to the emotionally vulnerable Romy Mathis. The high-powered e-commerce Founder and CEO at Tensile Automation is a groundbreaker in releasing a new artificial intelligence to improve the company’s automated warehouse robotics for this Amazon-like company. Portrayed by the Academy Award-winning and 2023 Jim Ridley Award Winning actress (an award given by the Music City Film Critics Association that best represents Nashville and Tennessee) Nicole Kidman, her perceived personal values get tossed out the door when she’s unwillingly enlisted into her company’s mentorship program.
Eventually agreeing to help out the new intern, Samuel (played by Harris Dickinson), Romy’s previously professional relationship switches from responsible to dangerous within a blink of an eye. There’s an immediate attraction brewing, even if she denies it. Personal boundaries continue to be set and crossed. Damn the consequences.
With the arrival of the absolutely inappropriate behavior, he’s already got her figured out. But in a role reversal from many other movies throughout the years, the older, wiser female isn’t the one taking advantage of the younger, naive male employee. It’s the other way around. He believes he has power over her and could ruin her life with one phone call. So, what can she do but to allow the pleasure to continue?
The inclusion of INXS’ “Never Tear Us Apart” was an insanely smart decision by the filmmakers (and I’m really not so sure why this great song isn’t used as effectively in other films, even if it was released 26 years ago). It seems to pair with the movie’s score quite well.
“We are all irrelevant. We have to pay more attention to the avalanche that is gonna cover us all, very soon…”
Emotionally confusing in parts and sometimes painful to watch, the primary goal of this film isn’t about feeling comfortable with the storyline. Animal attraction, unattainable fantasies and the aftermath are all explored, with possible repercussions weighing heavily on Romy’s shoulders. He’s all about the chaos that is created; she can’t minimize the damages she’s already caused to her family. In this no-means-yes world, nobody’s the winner.
I simply could not rectify the consentual trust issues with deceptive people on display here. Maybe it was the intense fear of never-ending threats (or maybe its repercussions), but the impending dread between these two broken people seeking help in all the wrong places made the film an uneasy one to watch for me. I realize some people will find the themes liberating, but I felt differently.
I mean, besides all of the groping, the moaning and the did-they-just-show-that nudity that evokes Kidman’s previous Eyes Wide Shut and more recently Fifty Shades of Grey, Romy’s restless energy felt claustrophobic to me. The lies, the deception and eventual blackmail… it all hits differently and a little too close to home when you’ve experienced those emotions real life — well, all of them except the blackmail, of course. By the time a safe word is discussed, she’s already fallen off the deep end, with no hopes of returning to her normal life.
“If I want to be humiliated, I’m gonna pay someone to do it.”
As Antonio Banderas’ faithful “good husband” attempts to wrap his head around the situation of being cheated upon, I’d like to offer a little advice. All relationships truly boil down to open communication between two people, and negative reactions tend to occur whenever that doesn’t happen — previously believed childhood traumas shouldn’t be blamed for bad behavior. That’s kind of my reaction to the film’s questionable conclusion. I won’t spoil it, but I truly thought suspension of disbelief made it feel inauthentic.
That’s not to say the acting isn’t exceptional — which it is. When the film debuted at the 81st Venice International Film Festival (which apparently had an incredible lineup this year), Kidman won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress, and she has received numerous other nominations for her performance by other critics’ groups. I believe she’ll win a Golden Globe and another Oscar for her part, even though the female field for Best Actress is incredibly strong this year. Banderas and especially Dickinson definitely deserve kudos for their work, as well.
Cheating and the kink lifestyle are on full display in this soon-to-be Christmas classic. I’m not so sure Romy truly wants to be normal again, as she claims, because her actions speak far louder than her words, but that’s not for me to decide. This power dynamic isn’t exactly the feel-good movie to share with your grandmother (or even extended family members), but it is definitely one that will surely strike up a conversation… even if it is unwanted at the dinner table during the holidays.
“You’re confusing ambition with morality. They’re very different…”