In a post “Fifty Shades of Gray” world, it is so easy to see film and television studios jump into the “sexy” entertainment canon with wild abandon. From series with “sexposition” like “Game of Thrones” to films that use sex as the focus instead of an additional factor hitting the mainstream such as “365 Days,” “Deep Water,” the “X” trilogy, “Miller’s Girl,” “Benedetta,” and “Knock Knock,” sex is Hollywood's new fling, pun entirely intended. It also means that we’re starting to get films that seem to be marketed or made based purely on that aspect, which is where something like “Babygirl” comes into play.
The film follows tech CEO Romy Mathis, played by Nicole Kidman (“Big Little Lies,” “The Northman”), as she begins an affair with Samuel, played by Harris Dickinson (“The Iron Claw,” “Trust”), a young new intern at her company. As their affair continues and begins to delve into a more submissive and dominant relationship, it begins to affect her work environment, like that with her assistant Esme, played by Sophie Wilde (“Talk to Me,” “You Don’t Know Me”), and her home life with her husband Jacob, played by Antonion Banderas (“The Mask of Zorro,” “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish”, and two children Isabel and Nora, played by Esther McGregor (“High School (2022)”) and Vaughan Reilly (“The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes,” “Tunes of Rockoons”), respectively.
Written and directed by Halina Reijn (“Instinct,” “Bodies Bodies Bodies”), the film represents a sharp turn away from her previous works. While her debut “Instinct” contained highly sexual elements contrasted against violence, “Babygirl” is a purely sexual affair. Therin is one of the biggest issues with the film: Reijn’s eye looks at the events in a far more clinical and cold way than one might expect. Which is fine on paper, as it could build to an interesting comment on the events of the film, but those sexual sequences don’t feel sexy either. While tastes obviously vary, it all feels like its being kept at a low boil, like the film wants to be provocative and sexy, but also make sure it can still air on AMC in their 11pm timeslot. It results in sex scenes that either feel far too routine for how the film is presenting them or feel like borderline parodies of what prudish people think kink is.
Kidman is turning in some great work here, even if the script isn’t doing her a ton of favors. She’s smoldering and yet far more engaging in the moments outside of the affair’s hottest scenes. Wilde also tries her best, but for an actress of her talent, the film just allows her to fade into the background until one pivotal scene, making that scene feel out of place as a result. Banderas is doing as much emotional work as he can with a fairly reductive part, and he does get some of the best scenes in the entire film. Even Reilly and McGregor are engaging, with the latter proving to be a standout thanks to multiple fleeting but impactful scenes with Kidman.
But one actor has yet to be mentioned. Despite how much of the film revolves around him, Dickinson feels woefully miscast here. Beyond that, he’s just not good in this role. Even if the role requires an actor who remains dejected or uninterested for the majority of the film, Dickinson never seems engaged with the material. It isn’t an actor giving a performance of a disinterested person, it’s just an actor who seems disinterested. It drags the film down and makes it arguably laughable at times, as you’re watching an actor as engaged with the material as Kidman act against someone who seems like he’s irritated to be at work that day.
Reijn’s script never goes further into the material than one might expect either. Given how specific and invasive “Bodies Bodies Bodies” was, it feels like a complete heel turn to see her write a film that almost refuses to dive into anything true with the subject matter. The film also overcomplicates things later on, introducing even more high concepts to add to the affair and its nature; it’s a slowly growing pile of surface level ideas that never get any more interesting than their starting points.
Which is why the last thirty minutes feel so exceptionally bizarre. After a confrontation with Banderas’s character, the film ratchets up its intrigues, intensity, and effort. It finally feels as though things are evolving, as if Reijn was asleep at the wheel and script and only just then woke up. It still isn’t anything mind-blowing, but it’s far better than the material that had come previously, meaning the film at least ends on a high note.
What is exceptional throughout the entire film, though, is the musical score from Cristobal Tapia de Veer (“Smile (2022),” “The White Lotus”), which is so good it almost draws you out of the film and makes you wonder why it's so much better than the film it’s in. The cinematography from Jasper Wolf (“Bodies Bodies Bodies,” “Instinct”) is the same way, far better than the events its framing. The whole film has a very blue heavy tone to the color, which means it all comes across as frigid and cold. It never subverts this aspect either, making this “white hot sexy” movie just feel cold as a result.
“Babygirl” is a fascinating oddity. The entire cast, led by Kidman, turn in some pretty good work despite a script that seems determined to never go deeper than surface level while still piling more ideas on top of themself. Dickinson meanwhile is just bad and feels as though he simply does not want to be there, and there’s a deeply engaging musical score under the surface. It never feels bad, merely bizarre, like an imitation of the kind of film it clearly wants to be but can never actually become. 2.5/5
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