Babygirl (2024)

I find it interesting that Nicole Kidman has been in two high-profile sexual thrillers doubling as unexpected Christmas movies (side note: I really need to give Eyes Wide Shut another shot - my tastes in movies have changed a great deal in the past decade, and I am NOT proud of that review). The movies seem to be playing with different aspects of the holidays - Eyes Wide Shut was leveraging the otherworldly, dreamlike aspects associated with old ghost stories (see past-Erin: that wasn't so hard), while Babgygirl...

Actually, Babygirl might be doing something even more interesting. By centering a story about power dynamics around the holidays, it evokes traditions of inverted power dynamics dating back to the solstice (the medieval Feast of Fools is probably the best known example, but there were numerous Christmas festivals and traditions centered around similar concepts). Echoes of that seem to be present in Halina Reijn's film about a high-profile CEO who engages in a submissive affair with a man half her age.

It's not clear whether that was intentional. The movie was originally intended as a summer movie, both in terms of setting and release date, but was rewritten for Christmas due to a shift in production schedule caused by the 2023 Writers Guild strike. When interviewed, writer/director Halina Reijn implied a connection between the American fixation with "the perfect Christmas" and the movie's lead's attempts to craft the perfect life as the bridge to the holidays. I suspect Reijn was also aware of the Feast of Fools motif, but I suppose it could have been a coincidence. Either way, the movie functions as a modern reimagining of the ancient idea.

On top of all that, it's a good movie with a lot more going on than you might assume from the subgenre. I'm not entirely sure "sexual thriller" is even really the bucket this ultimately lands in, though that's almost a bit of a spoiler. The story is absolutely told using the cinematic language of that subgenre, and it certainly delves into the tonal intensity you'd expect, but the destination isn't what you'd expect. Like both Eyes Wide Shut and the Feast of Fools, this ends with a return to reality. In other words, the last act is more comedy than drama. One of the movie's big reveals is that the stakes weren't quite as serious as Romy was claiming, and further that she may have been artificially escalating them for the thrill.

She is, to be clear, a messy, flawed character, but that's part of the point. Romy is a woman who obtained a position of power rarely obtained by women, which also means the expectations placed on her are abnormally high. She's expected to be a perfect role model, leader, mother, and wife. Her own messy, human needs and desires end up repressed. She attempts to discuss these with her husband, Jacob (Antonio Banderas), but struggles both because she doesn't seem to have the words to explain her submissive sexuality and because his understanding of female sexuality is simplistic and outdated. Because of this, she's simply endured a life of unfulfilled desire.

Enter Samuel (Harris Dickinson), an almost supernaturally empathic intern at Romy's company. He intuits her needs immediately and draws her into a relationship. She's experiencing a fulfilling sex life for the first time, but the fact she's engaging in a affair with someone she has power over poses a threat to her career, as well as her marriage. Romy's responses are erratic, which increases the probability she'll face consequences. She eventually confesses her infidelity to her husband and winds up separated. This culminates in a fight between him and Samuel, which...

Ends hilariously with Romy bringing them both packs of frozen vegetables for their eyes. Jacob insists that Romy's sexual desires aren't real, only for Samuel to explain to him that his ideas are outdated and incorrect. Jacob then has a panic attack, and Samuel responds by empathically and compassionately talking him through it.

I realize that sounds bonkers, but it's a jarringly sweet, funny sequence that humanizes and deescalates the situation. Same goes for one in which one of Romy's teenage daughters comes to the house she's staying at during her separation to convince her to come home. Romy is of course mortified by her daughter understanding the situation, and Kidman sells the humor and embarrassment her character feels.

By now it's become apparent the "sexual thriller" aspect of the film is mainly in Romy's head. The affair is real, as is the threat of consequences, but the paranoia is being exaggerated by the character, who explains at one point that it's the sense something is at stake that she's been missing. Consciously or otherwise, she's amplifying the drama into something more intense and dangerous than it needs to be.

This may be why she reveals the affair to her husband, though it could just as easily be guilt or fear (or some combination). While this hurts him (as does hearing that she's never experienced an orgasm with him), it's a journey they need to go on in order to come out stronger on the other side, which they ultimately do. The problem with their marriage was a failure in communication - the affair, separation, and confrontation allow them to overcome these hurdles. The movie concludes with them engaging in sex that's fulfilling to Romy (though she movie shows us she's thinking about Samuel).

We also see how the affair affected her as a person and a boss. After Samuel accepts a job with another company, a minor character attempts to blackmail Romy, only for her to tell him off. Giving into her submissive desires has allowed her to overcome her self-loathing and shame, which paradoxically leaves her more assertive and powerful.

A woman Romy had been mentoring has more success leveraging the affair against her, or at least isn't penalized for it. This character is Esmée (Sophie Wilde), who's largely focused on building a better environment for women to thrive. She'd always looked up to Romy as the rare woman to succeed in business, and as such is disturbed to find her abusing her position. Esmée makes for an interesting complication to the story, as her goals are ultimately positive, yet her expectations of perfection of women in power reinforce an uneven playing field. If women in power need to be better than men, women face disproportionate retribution for failing to uphold that ideal. This creates a dichotomy surrounding Esmée's endeavor to bring more women into the business world, with the movie seeming to warn any who survive long enough to obtain positions of power will face similar unfair expectations.

It's an impressive, thought-provoking movie, anchored by performances from Kidman, Dickinson, and Banderas. The movie tests the audience's ability to suspend disbelief around Samuel a bit (it really does start to feel as though he's superhuman at times), but it's a minor issue at most. There aren't a lot of movies inverting the age schism between actors and actresses in Hollywood; it's refreshing to see one eager to do so. Likewise, the decision to ground Romy's character helps differentiate this from, say, Tár (to be clear, I also like Tár, but it's nice seeing one of these not following the usual Shakespearean tragedy blueprint).

For our purposes, I think this also makes for an intriguing and atypical Christmas movie, regardless of how far down the "inversion of social norms and power structures" rabbit hole you want to go. The holidays absolutely make for a compelling backdrop and give a sense of time outside of time, a common conceit in Christmas media (which also ties into that whole Feast of Fools/inversions of... you get the gist).

It's a very good movie that makes for a nice deviation from the usual holiday fare. Just... you know... probably don't watch this one with young kids present.