‘Babygirl’ Movie Review – Spotlight Report

Halina Reijn’s Babygirl is a frank, deeply unpleasant look at an affair between a powerful executive and her young intern.

When Romy (Nicole Kidman) takes on the mentorship of Samuel (Harris Dickinson), she’s got more on her mind than merely training an up-and-comer to succeed in the corporate world. Samuel expertly reads her intent and nature and plays her like a fiddle, figuring out that she wants a release from controlling herself and wants to be controlled instead.

Romy’s world is an exquisitely designed, hyper-wealthy ideal that is – to her, stifling. She has an adoring, desirable, theatre-directing husband (Antonio Banderas) and is a role-model to her female junior co-workers. She is sexually frustrated by her vanilla lifestyle and when the sado-masochistic nature of her relationship with Samuel becomes clear to her she can’t resist.

Commendations are due to Kidman for the humiliating role she places herself in here and the skill of Reijn in capturing her brittle, awkward dialogue with the louche Dickinson. Like Demi Moore in The Substance, the fim isn’t shy to comment openly on her visible surgical excesses. There’s also some expert use of creepy, sexualised music that lends a distinct unsexiness to all proceedings.

There’s more on the mind of Reijn than the emotional convulsions and marital implications of infidelity, and Romy also feels a responsibility for letting down the young women that admire her. It’s an interesting take, but not a hugely sympathetic one. Can’t a high-powered woman even cheat on her husband without feeling like she’s letting her gender down too? Really.

Babygirl is a film that can be recommended, but is not an easy watch. The average person is going to have an uncomfortable time sharing this cinematic experience with the rest of the audience in the cinema, but that is certainly Reijn’s intent. It’s hard to criticise the technique on display here even if you disagree with the moral politics.