Babygirl

Anchored by a strong performance by Nicole Kidman, Babygirl was a bit of a letdown for me. This is not to say it's a bad movie, but I do think it was marketed incorrectly. The previews for Babygirl, directed by Halina Reijn (who previously directed horror-comedy Bodies Bodies Bodies), painted the film as a high-stakes thriller in which a powerful CEO, Romy (Kidman), risks losing everything to engage in a tawdry BDSM-tinged affair with a much younger intern, Samuel (Harris Dickinson). Well, that's partially what happens in the film...but to be honest the stakes never feel that high.

Romy Mathis seems to have it all: she's the CEO of a company called Tensile which focuses on automating repetitive tasks (so, she's a capitalist pig who made her fortune taking jobs away from blue collar workers...but the movie doesn't really get into that...), she has two lovely daughters, and her husband is literally Antonio Banderas. But what she doesn't have is honesty about what she needs sexually. She has never had an orgasm with her loving husband. Romy fantasizes about domination. But she doesn't have the courage to ask for it.

When she meets intern Samuel, she is shocked when he casually says that he thinks she "likes to be told what to do". Shock transforms into obsession and she and Samuel begin an affair in which neither of them really know what they're doing. Samuel is what I'd call a bush league dom. He's kind of stumbling around, telling Romy to get on her knees one minute and then laughing and asking "well, is that what you want?" the next. Romy is not much better. Although she's spent years watching BDSM porn, she literally doesn't know how to ask for what she wants...she doesn't even know what she wants. And she's fighting against every instinct telling her that she should be a strong woman who doesn't get on her knees in a filthy, cheap hotel room.

But get on her knees she does and Samuel, er, manually brings her to an explosive orgasm. Nicole Kidman goes vanity-free as she practically barks like a dog when she climaxes. I appreciated the obscenely realistic sex scenes in Babygirl. It's interesting because there's not a ton of nudity and you don't actually see much of the sex, but what you do see is so awkward and unvarnished that it feels very, very real. This is no perfectly choreography sex in a beautifully lit room. This is no Bridgerton. 

I also appreciated the realistic approach to BDSM. Two people who don't know what they're doing probably would approach dominance and submission in this way because they have no clue where to start. Samuel is no Mr. Grey and thank god for that. However, he's not particularly sexy either. Dickinson plays Samuel as a mumbly, immature dude who looks like he probably doesn't wear deodorant. Definitely not *my* dream guy, but I think he is so alien to Romy and her perfect little world that he represents the ultimate escape. 

As much as the messiness was refreshing...I have to admit that I didn't find Babygirl particularly sexy or thrilling. Again, the previews made it look like Samuel could take everything away from Romy with one phone call. But I just didn't buy that. If you're a CEO with that much power, I think an affair could cause serious consequences but it's not like you'd end up destitute.

And guess what? Romy and Samuel do get found out. And what happens? Does Romy get fired? No. Does her husband divorce her? No. Do her children hate her? No. In fact, she becomes more empowered at work. She becomes even closer to her husband. Overall, the affair actually makes her life better.

And here's the thing...I think a movie about a woman who cheats on her spouse and doesn't end up horrifically punished is kind of great because our culture treats cheating like it's a crime worse than murder and that is insane. We especially see female infidelity as grotesque. Don't get it twisted: I do believe that infidelity is wrong and very damaging to relationships. But I've always felt like *some* people are sexually jealous to the point where it's scary and, guess what, women get killed over sexual jealousy. 

But! I do feel that Babygirl is insufficiently critical of the fact that Romy is fucking her intern. The power dynamic gets brought up a couple times, but then is dismissed because Samuel himself says that he does not feel used or take advantage of by Romy. 

I found this...maybe not troubling, but morally ambiguous in a really lazy way. For all the realism about sex in Babygirl, something rings false about the movie. It's all just tied up a little too neatly in a bow at the end. Perhaps, like Romy with her husband, I was left unsatisfied and unfulfilled by a movie I thought would be blisteringly hot and heart pounding.

That said, Babygirl isn't a bad movie and Nicole Kidman is excellent in it (as she always is). I think if you go into the movie not expecting a high-stakes thriller and instead prepare to see some awkward and fumbling sex, you'd probably enjoy it!

Grade: B