Babygirl (2025)

It's hard to watch the trailer for Haline Reijn's Babygirl and not be reminded somewhat of Steven Shainberg's Secretary (2002), or perhaps, if you're less interested in intelligent erotetically charged dramas, Sam Taylor-Johnson's Fifty Shades of Grey (2015). Sex opens and closes the film, and it's not the first time we've seen Kidman in such a position- she was of course a key figure in Stanley Kubrick's slightest film, Eyes Wide Shut (1999).

Thankfully Babygirl is a more successful film than Kubrick's final film, although how it ranks on the vast scale of erotic thrillers is up for debate. Kidman plays Tech company CEO Romy, who we see failing to orgasm as the film opens during sex with her husband Jacob (a wonderful Antonio Banderas), before satisfying herself elsewhere in the house with the aid of some headphones and porn. So we're immediately aware of where the film's going, and shortly afterwards, when she meets Samuel outside her office building (miraculously calming a wild dog), a steamy association is seemingly inevitable.

Reijn explores the power dynamic in a risk-addiction affair; certainly from Romy's point of view it's often indecipherable whether she wants this relationship, needs it, or is simply unable to resist Samuel's almost aggressive calmness.

Harris Dickinson is fabulous as Samuel, to the point where it's genuinely difficult to take what he's saying as genuine or not. Romy is very job driven and tightly wound, spending more time at the office than with her husband and kids (although clearly cares enough to pack loving handwritten messages into her kid's lunchboxes) but they're never short of money- which makes you wonder why Romy doesn't spend it on a marriage councillor to address problems in their sex life, rather than continue with Jacob being completely oblivious to any such problems (although then again, it's potentially on him for not figuring that one out; I'll leave that for you to decide).

So in this now seemingly ancient trait of the erotic thriller, there begins a wild affair with all sorts of questions over the power dynamic that surrounds it. Babygirl frequently tips into comedy, always a vital component of the B-movie sexploitation flick, although Reijn's film is at fault in the sense that we're not always convinced the comedic elements are deliberate. I've read reviews describing Dickinson's character as the 'ultimate middle-aged career woman's fantasy'- I'm in no position to comment on that but the fact that Reijn is at pains to ensure consent is always the most important thing here is important; Samuel will go as far as Romy wants and no more, but it's the way he seemingly guides her there that makes the film's politics and messaging so interesting.

Samuel is a lowly intern at the company Romy is CEO of, and Romy could have his career in ruins at any moment. Indeed Samuel threatens to walk away at one point and simply leave her to it, but she can't accept it; Romy has worked extremely hard to be as successful as she is in a male dominated world, she has a loving family and is still sustaining a healthy marriage, as well finally having her greatest fantasies finally fulfilled. It's arguably the ultimate fantasy for some, and yet loathsome treachery for others.

We've seen this sort of thing done more playfully and more successfully; as much as people might hate a comparison with Basic Instinct (1992) because of the femme fatale element, for me, it's simply unavoidable. But there are many other more recent examples that come to mind; Peter Strickland's sublime The Duke of Burgundy (2014), and even Luca Guadagnino's A Bigger Splash (2015)- and I suppose if you're clutching at straws, Guadagnino's mess of a film Challengers (2024).

Thankfully Babygirl, certainly in comparison to Challengers, is masterful. It's also tremendous fun with two sizzling central performances from Kidman and Dickinson that really make the whole thing hang together despite its flaws. It might be better served taking its place alongside the B-movie erotic thrillers of the eighties and nineties, but it's raised above that with it's subliminal (and not so subliminal) messages about power and consent- Reijn has successfully produced an erotic drama for the twenty first century, and that's no mean feat. 7.2/10