Nicole Kidman is fornicating in a BDSM relationship with Babygirl, a film that can be best described as a parody of Fifty Shades of Grey. Halina Reijn, a Dutch writer, directs a story on a powerful businesswoman who engages in a romantic relationship with her male intern, an assistant who enjoys a little power play. Babygirl excels at portraying the reclamation of violence where the protagonist gets a right to be ‘evil’ after having lived a normalized life, allowing her to fulfill unspeakable fantasies. It is boxing above its weight with a supporting cast that is in the film solely to advance a feminist agenda. Nothing wrong with that, but it does seem that the chemistry between characters is forced and unrealistic.
Taking control is what Romy Mathis (Kidman), a mother of two and the CEO of Tensile, a company specializing in warehouse automation, did after pretending to be happy in her marriage for the night, if there was anyone who was not expecting it, it was her husband Jacob (Antonio Banderas), a famous theater adores who had no idea she was faking her happiness indoors for over 19 years. Despite owning a mansion in New York City and a countryside house with a heated swimming, where the romance in their lives appears to be intensifying, from the cover of the story it is clear that Isabel (Esther McGregor) and Nora (Vaughan Reilly), who are teenagers, along with their mother Romy, manage to squeeze in some time for breakfast.
Romy gets to know Samuel (Harris Dickinson) after an unexpected meeting outside their company’s office, instantly getting attracted to the man. Romy had previously been apprehended that a situation like this will eventually unfold as she was fully aware that infants pretend like meeting Samuel, which is better known as stalking to the rest of the world. To show Romy a strike of confidence, Samuel chose her as a mentor despite making it obvious that he has no sense of confidence in general, a trait Romy finds amusing, nonetheless, she grants him the attention he has been so desperate to receive for the longest time.
It was quite amusing when Samuel remarked with such casualness and sarcasm that yes, from this moment on, we can consider all three conference rooms of the office as “soundproof” which, by my rough estimate, would last no more than twenty minutes. A mix of that deep and raspy voice and her already good looks creates an actress who receives all attention and has never really had to work for it. All of this comes even after the fact that she was the director of Bodies Bodies Bodies which made me laugh out loud the first time I watched it. Samuel awakens Romy to something that had been long buried within her. Can we assume that Samuel is a womanizing lothario who can read a woman’s desires in her eyes within a matter of seconds – yes, he is all of those things at once. The early exposition that seems absent from the two of them is easy to blame solely on chance. It is common speech oxygen that nurtures some people for growth.
Reijn uses the struggle of a narrative within the story to maintain the audience’s attention and restlessness throughout the movie. There is also a loud overhead classical soundtrack that runs alongside Romy’s narrative assembled from fragmented sequences of her crazy days. She is one of those women of today who manages to keep the family and run the business only to remain being miserable inside. But after that, Reijn decides to take it slow for several gracing scenes where Romy is coming out of her shell and breaks loose. It’s a quiet moment amidst a frenzy of Samuel and her frost-tinged consensual role-playing which would be otherwise termed ‘dangerous’. This is what I found to be the best lesson in the film and was displayed very well.
Babygirl confronts Romy’s concern over the possible dealings with an employee and she says I am not that dumb. Romy knows that her career and marriage will be at stake if such infidelities are uncovered. But that is also the reason why her affairs are that much more interesting. She is used to being bored by the trifles and repetitiveness. Samuel lets her out into the wild and does not assume she is disturbed in any way. But it is in this section that the narrative falters: Samuel’s rather unnatural calm demeanor and his levelheadedness during the covert operation of the two of them is quite unsettling. An ordinary plumber arrogantly taking a job just to fix pipes quite clearly.
Dickinson, along the lines of Triangle of Sadness, and Where the Crawdads Sing, is Nicholae typecast in these boy toys roles, which he rather boasts to perform them effectively. Samuel is so laid back fucking his boss, one would think it’s not his first time. But Reijn does not hint that love is on his target. Decisively, Romy argues with him about what they are going to do. Samuel seems very confident in what he does but the narrative has him written only as trying out this particular line of coupling. It’s hard to put the pieces together so build a coherent story with him being this experienced. An intern can’t be a teacher and the student at one go.
Reijn takes pleasure in showcasing an older woman with a young man! This shouldn’t be shocking considering Hollywood has been pairing college aged girls with grumpy old grandpas since time immemorial. Rens-approved. A person isn’t wrong when he says that even Romy has her needs and someone has to respect that. That’s completely fine, but when that woman’s husband and employees find out the truth it is unfortunate drama that beats flimsy movie plot lines.
That, however, doesn’t explain what Jacob and Esme (Sophie Wilde), romy’s work assistant, tried to achieve with the affair. For starters, it’s rather unrealistic for any secret to remain a secret for that long. Kidman looks at Dickinson like a hungry lion look at a leg of the antelope. It is written all over in big fonts on an advertisement outside a shop in one bid as ‘Romance’ even the blind can see it. Jacob must have immense pain and anger, but the steps leading to such a revelation are quite hilarious. There is no belt that a husband who finds out about his wife’s cheating would wear. A woman such as Rene would be in none other than Romy’s shoes. Emotions lead to intense pain and the pain drives to uncontrollable stupidity. Outrage and exessive emotion seem to be BFFs when betrayal is in the question. But coming to terms with it isn’t an easy task.
Babygirl apparently plans to liberate all the women who confine their sexual appetite within formal boundaries that is, only to please men. But then again, a price has to be paid, as they say, it takes two to tango. The point she is trying to make is to pay attention to your partner, and in this case, your partner is a lady. Or else, Samuel is there in the board room. That said, baby girl is under production of an American company called A24, another company which goes by the name 2AM and then there is Man Up Films. All these companies come together and decide to release Babygirl on December 25th.
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