Kidman gets hot under the white collar in ‘Babygirl’
As a female Jeff Bezos, Nicole Kidman’s Romy seemingly has it all in the lust-filled “Babygirl,” a higher-reaching “Fifty Shades of Grey” in which the question of who’s got the power is answered with an ever-shifting wave of seismic carnal desire. It’s an attempt by writer-director Halina Reijn (“Bodies, Bodies, Bodies”) to strip bare the corporate hierarchy by tossing a monied CEO into a five-star hotel room with a lowly intern and allowing them to wage an S&M war over who straps on the bondage.
On paper, it sounds intriguing, the perfect movie for these precarious times of blurred boundaries in the workplace. But it falters in its execution, more erratic than erotic. It’s through no fault of Kidman. She’s daringly out there, unafraid to explore a 21st-century woman’s sexuality in a raw, uncompromised manner. In many ways, her Romy is a variation on Clark Kent, a woman with two distinct identities, one of which she must keep hidden at all costs – until her Lois Lane enters the picture.
That would be Harris Dickinson’s Samuel, a traditional muscle-bound Superman with an uncanny ability to be on the scene whenever his services are required. And when it involves a woman as sexually needy as Romy, he becomes a very busy man. He’s super, indeed, fully aware that his boss’s kryptonite is her long-neglected G-spot. He appreciates that their passionate trysts are strictly professional with no strings attached.
This is no “Fatal Attraction”-type infatuation gone berserk. It’s closer to blackmail in that Samuel likes letting Romy know he can crash her whole world at any second. She knows it, too. It frightens her, but at the same time, she’s highly aroused. The thrill of getting caught is as much a driving force as satiating her “forbidden” desires. She also enjoys throwing her escalating guilt back at Samuel by playing coy and condoning her cheating with the pretense that it’s all his idea. She’s not giving; he’s taking.
This will be her get-out-of-jail-free card when and if her adoring husband, Jacob (Antonio Banderas), and teen daughters, Isabel (Esther McGregor) and Nora (Vaughan Reilly), God forbid, ever find out. Or, so she convinces herself. But why should she? If the genders were reversed, the accusations would likely be dismissed. Just ask the victims of Bill Cosby and Harvey Weinstein. Yes, they were eventually found out, but only years after getting away with committing multiple sexual assaults simply because they could.
What’s going on between Romy and Samuel is entirely consensual, yet I maintain there’s a double standard at play. But “Babygirl” isn’t about that as much as it’s about a woman afraid to tell her husband what she longs for in bed for fear of being judged. Romy likes a little porn with her sex, as we observe in the film’s opening scene in which she fakes an orgasm with Jacob before running off to another room to climax while watching an X-rated video. Kinky, yes. But what’s the harm? Heck, Jacob might even be on board if she weren’t so reluctant to introduce it for fear of marring her image as the wholesome wife and mother.
All great, thought-provoking stuff. And it could have been much more impactful had Reijn not rendered it so glossy and predictable, often adopting the traits of a cheesy production on Lifetime. That C-movie vibe becomes even more prominent once Samuel begins showing up at Romy’s suburban home unannounced, winning over Jacob and the girls with his folksy charm. From then on, “Babygirl” flirts with being a standard thriller featuring a “good” woman harassed by a crazed stalker.
For me, it was the moment I began to turn on the movie, more so after Romy continues the affair despite the possibility of endangering her family. It just doesn’t ring true. In real life, she’d be contacting the police and hiring security. She’d also fire Samuel’s ass. It completely took me out of the movie, as did Banderas’ stilted acting. His emoting borders on comical. And playing a theater director, you’d think his character would recognize histrionics.
Dickinson suffers from the opposite. He’s a tad too laid back, but I loved the way Samuel taunts Romy with his subtle digs at her company and the philosophy under which she runs it, favoring robots over humanity. Unfortunately, Reijn seems to be in lockstep with her horny heroine in a film that’s more mechanical than flesh and blood. You can practically see the gears turning as Reijn defies all logic by tacking on a happy ending that’s almost as unfulfilling as it is a cop-out. Now, who’s feeling dissatisfied?
Movie review
Babygirl
Rated: R for strong sexual content, nudity, language
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Harris Dickinson, Antonio Banderas and Sophie Wilde
Director: Halina Reijn
Writer: Halina Reijn
Runtime: 114 minutes
Where: In theaters Dec. 25
Grade: B-
