After the set-up, Halina Reijn’s Babygirl plays like a reverse of 2015’s Fifty Shades of Grey. Interested? You are going to have to watch the movie to find out why.
Released in theaters on Christmas Day, December 25, 2024, through A24, Babygirl features a cast of Nicole Kidman (Days of Thunder 1990, Moulin Rouge 2001), Antonio Banderas (Desperado 1995, Puss In Boots 2011), Harris Dickinson (Beach Rats 2017, The Iron Claw 2023), Esther McGregor (High School series, Bleeding Love 2023), Vaughan Reilly (Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes 2023, The Equalizer series), and Sophie Wilde (Talk to Me 2022, The Portable Door 2023). Reijn’s third full-length film (the others being 2019’s Instinct and 2022’s Bodies Bodies Bodies), Babygirl tells the story of a high-powered CEO named Romy (Kidman) who puts her career and family on the line when she begins a torrid affair with her much younger intern Samuel (Dickinson).
Dubbed an Erotic Thriller, Babygirl is about power, sexuality, honesty, and self-acceptance. The tagline tells us from the start that we will deal with power and sexuality. However, there are deeper themes of being honest with herself and Jacob, her husband (Banderas), while owning her sexuality.
To that end, Nicole Kidman, at fifty-seven, looks incredible and sells Romy with *ahem* balls. Like Demi Moore, who just won Best Actor for a Comedy or Musical at the Golden Globes, her first award ever in her forty-five-year career at sixty-two, she sold aging star Elisabeth in The Substance. Incidentally, Babygirl takes a beat from The Substance in that Romy has all these treatments to make herself look younger…albeit not as extreme as Substance.
Antonio Banderas is almost unrecognizable; he has aged so much. Sure, he is still handsome, but he has definitely aged. Sixty-four looks good on him, and he plays Jacob with a quiet concern and a desire to make Romy happy; his background comes from a different place than hers, so try as he might, he only scratches her surface. Then enters Samuel with his boyish looks. At twenty-eight, Harris Dickinson is a babyface, but he seeks Romy out specifically for his internship. Has he bitten off more than he can chew? Did he somehow have Romy marked?
Looking at other cast members, Esther McGregor (daughter of Ewan McGregor) seems to be straddling being feminine and butch as Romy and Jacob’s first daughter, Isabel. This, although not central, seems to be a commonality when she and Romy have one-on-ones.
Then there is Babygirl’s soundtrack… which has its own character. Two tracks play prominently during two sequences, “Never Tear Us Apart” by INXS and “Father Figure” by George Michael. They stand out as both artists died from their known excesses: INXS’s Michael Hutchence from a mysterious suicide (thought to be fueled by intoxication with alcohol and other drugs), and Michael from a heart attack (following years of drugs and alcohol seemingly catching up to him). There has to be a method to that madness, and viewers with good ears and in the know will pick up on this.
All matters considered, credits and audiences have been panned on Babygirl, but it is really up to each individual to devise their own opinion. As it is, Cryptic Rock gives Babygirl 4 out of 5 stars.
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