You have to hand it to Nicole Kidman: in recent months, she (along with The Idea of You’s Anne Hathaway) has been spearheading the current renaissance of May-December relationship movies involving glamorous older women and dashing young men—and, in her case, doing double duty. First came Netflix’s A Family Affair with Zac Efron, and now there’s Babygirl, Halina Reijn’s sultry workplace thriller co-starring the always excellent Harris Dickinson, which just debuted at the Venice Film Festival. Both films are deeply and wonderfully unserious but, beyond that, it’s probably unfair to compare them. The first is disposable fluff, while the second is a mile-a-minute romp which thrills and unsettles in equal measure, and provides plenty to get your teeth into.
I would hesitate to call it a romance, though—Babygirl is about lust, pure and simple. It opens—and ends—with an orgasm, delivered with complete commitment and lack of self-consciousness by our leading lady, who is simply sensational here, in one of the meatiest parts she’s had in years. But, we quickly realize, she’s faking it. After her doting husband (Antonio Banderas) finishes, she rushes to the other room, opens her laptop, and watches some porn involving a girl with a baby voice calling a guy “daddy” before bringing herself to climax.
In a way, it makes sense. She is Romy Mathis, the high-powered CEO of a robotics company, forever glued to her phone, chairing meetings, and making crucial decisions, while also raising two young daughters and constantly reassuring her husband about his abilities as a theater director. So, it’s understandable that she might not always feel like taking charge in the bedroom, too—she wants to be taken.
Enter: Dickinson’s Samuel, one of the new interns at Romy’s company whom she spots outside the building. When a rabid dog runs towards her on the street, everyone steps back, but he steps forward. As he holds, strokes, and calms her, Romy looks on, intrigued. From the outset, he proves to be different from the rest of his cohort—a somewhat contradictory yet entirely believable and uniquely Gen Z combination of bullishness and acute social awareness. He asks difficult questions; he keeps interrupting her; he takes it upon himself to choose her as his company mentor and arrange meetings with her.
