@Courtesy of A24
Two years after the interesting Bodies, Bodies, Bodies, the Dutch director Halina Reijn returns to A24 with the story of Romy (Nicole Kidman), the CEO of a company who starts an affair with Samuel (Harris Dickinson), a way younger intern. The hidden relationship not only jeopardizes har power-position, but most importantly forces her to acknowledge her deepest and most private side.
Set in the higher social level of New York, Babygirl is totally centered on Nicole Kidman, who delivers a performance capable of exploring so many and surprising sides of Romy’s character. Even if the structure of the story can resemble the erotic thriller, Halina Reijn’s screenplay is way more eager to develop the psychological aspect of her movie, focusing on a protagonist who clearly represents her point of view about exploring one’s inner drives. Nicole Kidman perfectly understood this and portrays Romy as a whole woman, strong and fragile, funny and extremely serious, shy and capable of bold actions. The actress’ performance – which gained her the Coppa Volpi at the last Venice Film Festival – is the admirable testimony of her preparation for such a complex role.
Scene after scene, even with Romy making silly mistakes or suffering the building stress of hiding her affair, Kidman gives the audience the feeling of having her character always under absolute control. Halina Reijn lets the camera follow the leading actress with persistence, developing at the same time a cinematic universe which is refined as much as it’s gritty. Babygirl is intriguing because it doesn’t offer any moral compass or socio-psychological pattern to embrace. There is no right or wrong in the characters’ action, just the exploration of what Romy has started with her ‘scandalous’ behavior.
@Courtesy of A24
Accordingly, Samuel is just an enigmatic, charming tool for the woman to discover her sadistic impulses. The sense of uncertainty, fear and desire that Romy perceives going deeper and deeper in her affair with the young man is something that we haven’t seen represented with such sincerity in a long time. It almost seems that Halina Reijn is discovering Romy while shooting the movie, and this is in a strange way the main strength of the screenplay.
While at the beginning you don’t really understand why she is doing what she is doing, little by little this woman becomes more emphatic, more intriguing in her flawed humanity, until as a viewer you end up rooting for her, for her right to express herself and her desires the way she prefers. This is surely the result of Halina Reijn’s vision, but even more is the achievement of Nicole Kidman’s subtle but vibrant performance.
Twenty-five years ago Stanley Kubrick with Eyes Wide Shut gave Nicole Kidman the chance to portray another upper-class New York wife frustrated by unexpressed, unsatisfied sexual desires. There is a thin but intriguing connection between Alice Harford and Romy: watching Babygirl you sometimes have the feeling that Nicole Kidman wants to re-analyze her old character through the new one, with more experience and knowledge of the world but in some way the same visceral fragility.
We are not comparing Stanley Kubrick’s movie with Hailna Reijn’s work, it would be of course way too unfair. Babygirl has its own specificity and works on a deep level even without Eyes Wide Shut. Nonetheless, watching the 1999 ‘erotic thriller’ by the director of A Clockwork Orange and The Shining could add some thoughts to Halina Reijn’s movie. No matter what, the result will be the same: Nicole Kidman delivered one of the best and most complex performances of her glorious career. Chapeau.
@Courtesy of A24
Rate: B
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Here’s the trailer for Babygirl: