Babygirl: Movie Review

Cast: Nicole Kidman, Harris Dickinson, Antonio Banderas, Sophie Wilde
Director: Halina Reijn

Nicole Kidman's performance anchors Babygirl, a film that occasionally feels coldly aloof yet startingly familiar in its story about a woman seeking fulfillment in a life that on paper, seems perfect.

She plays Romy the high-powered CEO of a robot automation company in New York. Dissatisfied with her sex life at home, despite the amorous intentions of her husband, Romy meets intern Samuel (Triangle of Sadness' Dickinson) who immediately stirs something in her, thanks to his impertinent questions and seeming demands over her lifestyle.

Initially conflicted, Romy begins a dangerous submission to Samuel - with the stakes edging ever closer to home and higher.

Babygirl is a film that captures the female experience and dissatisfaction angle particularly well.

Yet it's a starkly presented film in many ways, one which doesn't linger through any kind of lens and which captures the unpredictability of an affair and the intense longing of satisfaction within a life.

Consequently, what emerges is a compelling film that is anchored by two increasingly different performances as the power dynamics emerge.

While Dickinson's turn provides the kind of character you'd expect in this kind of film, his very controlled acting feels very much choreographed in its machinations. From moments where he shirtlessly contorts to a song to initial meetings where Samuel demands to be part of an intern process, there's a calculated edge to his acting that gels well with Kidman's uptight Romy.

Yet the attention will rightly be on Kidman's performance as the lost CEO who is guided daily by others and seems to be unable to find her own voice, teetering on the edge of self-destruction with such unease. There's a push for Romy to implode in any way - and Kidman leans deeply and uncomfortably into the moments, provoking much of what will inform the debate around this movie.

A film about female sexual desire, the inability to voice needs and a familiar tale all combine into something that's electric in parts and muted in others. 

It's true that it's a film that will spark different things in different audiences, but given Babygirl's propensity for control and the control of the film's director, that's no bad thing at all.