Babygirl movie review: Nicole Kidman, Harris Dickinson burn up the screen in this sexy play of basic instincts

Nicole Kidman, Harris Dickinson in ‘Babygirl’

Though very much a movie of and in its time, there is a deliciously cool retro vibe to Halina Reijn’s Babygirl, an underlying thread of those jolly erotic thrillers of the late ‘80s and ‘90s. It is no surprise that Reijn has cited directors such as Paul Verhoeven (Basic Instinct) and Adrian Lyne (Fatal Attraction) as inspirations for the film. 

While the background score takes us back to the decades in question, what with George Michael’s ‘Father Figure’ and INXS’ ‘Never Tear Us Apart’ playing, there are these sudden switches in mood and tempo, last heard in Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers, which throw the viewer off balance, reminding one not to be complacent about what comes next.  

Romi (Nicole Kidman) is the CEO of an automation company in New York City. Her life is arranged to the second by her assistant, Esme (Sophie Wilde). She is married to a theatre director, Jacob (Antonio Banderas), and has two daughters, Isabel (Esther McGregor) and Nora (Vaughan Reilly).  

The film opens with Romi and Jacob having sex, after which Romi leaves the marital bed to masturbate to a climax while watching porn. On the street as she is walking to work, a dog gets loose, and Romi is terrified till a young man calms the dog down.  

When she gets to office, she realises the young man, Samuel (Harris Dickinson), is interning at her company. Samuel pursues her and though Romi tells Samuel it is wrong considering the imbalance of power between them, he tells her, “I think you like to be told what to do.” Romi’s introduction into the world of dominance and submission results in an intense orgasm. 

Romi is a runaway train exploring her sexuality, despite the very real danger of her marriage and career imploding. While being cut from the same cloth as the erotic thrillers of 30 years ago, Babygirl is a very different movie from its sexy forbears. For one, its gaze is not prurient, and there is even a no-underwear scene!

In the beginning as Kidman began tying those elaborate scarves around her swan-like neck, one could be forgiven for thinking this is another of her white-privileged-woman-in-peril roles, but Romi is a beautifully, terrifyingly different beast all together — at once fragile, forceful, cryptic and emotionally naked. Matching her step for step is Dickinson as the intensely masculine and completely vulnerable, dorky Samuel, and yes, he has the moves to make a wonderful 007. Banderas provides heft and warmth to Jacob. 

The Censor Board as usual plays spoilsport, making the movie more symbolic than Reijn intended. Babygirl for all its post-millennial sheen, is a hopeful and romantic film, and that totally warms the cockles of the heart in our awfully cynical times.  

Babygirl is currently running in theatres