Halina Reijn
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Connections, in both directions
The score by It Follows ‘ composer Disasterpeace is already drawing early raves, and adds tremendously to the movie’s vibe.
The use of glow necklaces is an inspired touch, though, for atmosphere, and the rave-ready soundtrack and a killer synth score by Disasterpiece (2015's “It Follows”) decidedly lend to the escalating tension.
“It Follows” composer Disasterpeace delivers another exceptional score, outfitting “Bodies Bodies Bodies” with enough juice to earn its street cred among inventive social thrilles, and have clips eventually end up in the ethos of Tik-Tok, waiting to be discovered for the next decade.
Composer Disasterpiece, who livened up films like “It Follows” and “Under the Silver Lake,” deserves much credit for moving things along with a thumping, muted, grimy electronic score.
It's a gentle reminder how, in some small regards, we've also inched away from children being used as tools sanctioning their mothers' sexuality a la celebrated Douglas Sirk melodramas, such as All That Heaven Allows (1955) or There's Always Tomorrow (1956).
It's a gentle reminder how, in some small regards, we've also inched away from children being used as tools sanctioning their mothers' sexuality a la celebrated Douglas Sirk melodramas, such as All That Heaven Allows (1955) or There's Always Tomorrow (1956).
There are shades of Steven Shainberg’s Secretary in Babygirl, but by its finale, it ends up strangely reminiscent of Paul Mazursky’s revelatory Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice. In that film, Mazursky follows the four leads as they wander out of their hotel room following their (kind of) sexual escapades. They dreamily wander around Las Vegas, drifting back to their respective partners to gaze up at them lovingly before the screen fades to black.
But rather than structure Romy’s descent into lusty madness as a force of utter Freudian annihilation (as with Michael Haneke’s “The Piano Teacher,” clearly a reference here, as is Steven Shainberg’s 2003 law office kinkfest “Secretary”), Kidman and Reijn make Romy’s transformation a joyously destructive one instead.
But Bodies can be more precisely classified alongside such “awful rich people dying in a mansion” comedies as Ready or Not or You’re Next (all of which share a common ancestor in Agatha Christie’s blackly comic And Then There Were None).
For years, the whole youth-slasher-movie paradigm — first this kid gets killed off, then that kid, then this kid — has been traced back to the murder-mystery form invented by Agatha Christie in “And Then There Were None.” “Bodies Bodies Bodies,” with its restless camera movement and improv-style acting and general overdramatic rambunctiousness, is like “And Then There Were None” staged by John Cassavetes for the age of Instagram.
For years, the entire paradigm of teen horror movies has been traced back to the murder mystery form invented by Agatha Christie in "And Then There Were None." ". "Bodies Bodies Bodies," with its restless camera movement and impromptu-style acting and overall dramatic buzz, is like "And Then There Were None" staged by John Cassavetes for the age of Instagram.
The film has a lot more in common with Knives Out (2019) or Clue (1985) than with the slasher genre.
The murder mystery and social dynamics call to the intersection of Clue and Mean Girls , but it doesn’t lack its own unique voice.
If "Clue," "April Fool's Day," and "Heathers" were all in a text chain together, “Bodies Bodies Bodies” would be the biting, fiercely entertaining result, a slasher-style murder mystery that roasts the entitled TikTok generation to a mean, bloody crisp.
The premise for Bodies Bodies Bodies is simple: What if Clue was made with Gen Z?
Dickinson's performance is compelling as well, coming off as opaquely juvenile, like what Tom Cruise's character in Risky Business might like after graduating from Princeton.
As Romy risks her career and her family in pursuit of great (read: kinky) sex, I kept thinking about what Robert Loggia told Glenn Close in "Jagged Edge," way back in 1985: "Is that your head talking, or another part of your anatomy?"
At a certain point, when Samuel breaks into Romy's domestic sphere, their fantasy bleeds into a dangerous reality, and the simmering tension of exposure hits home, a la Fatal Attraction (1987).
Often, such blunt examinations of BDSM sex fantasies, while having higher intentions, end up feeling silly, their failure to land the emotional, psychological underpinnings of sexuality landing in camp territory, such as Jennifer Lynch's infamous Boxing Helena (1993).
Although it earns comparisons to other S&M or sexual compulsion narratives such as Secretary (2002) or Shame (2011), this isn't a film about despair or disgrace.
…the bar for erotic BDSM thrillers is notoriously low (9½ Weeks and Fifty Shades of Grey have betrayed kink again and again) even with certain exceptions (the stellar Bound, Jane Campion’s In the Cut)––simply knowing your stuff doesn’t get you far.
Having worked with her fellow countryman Paul Verhoeven in 2006's Black Book, Reijn's approach to the messiness of sexual passion recalls his early classic Turkish Delight (1973).
Reijn has frequently mentioned being inspired by the films of Paul Verhoeven (Reijn worked with him as an actress in "Black Book"), but "Babygirl" isn't trying to be Verhoeven — it's much more subtle and cerebral than that, but very clearly crafted by someone who appreciates his brand of in-your-face horniness.
Having worked with her fellow countryman Paul Verhoeven in 2006's Black Book, Reijn's approach to the messiness of sexual passion recalls his early classic Turkish Delight (1973).
The Dutch actress turned director, who starred in Paul Verhoeven’s 2006 “Black Book,” takes a page off her mentor’s rulebook to pay homage to the classic erotic thriller with a story about an intense relationship between a powerful executive and their younger employee.
Its writer and director is Halina Reijn, who in her parallel career as an actress co-starred in Black Book, the 2006 wartime thriller from Elle and Basic Instinct director Paul Verhoeven. Babygirl is her third feature as a director, and is a provocation in the classic Verhoeven mould. Some films don’t let their audience off the hook.
All feel relevant since (in order): Isabelle Huppert is this year's jury president and starred in Michael Haneke's erotic psychological drama; she also starred in the 2016 psycho-sexual thriller by Paul Verhoeven, a director who Reijn acted for in Black Book in 2006; and Kidman was on the Lido 25 years ago with the late director's final – and controversial – film.
Although it earns comparisons to other S&M or sexual compulsion narratives such as Secretary (2002) or Shame (2011), this isn't a film about despair or disgrace.
Reijn's film is more aligned with European cinema, such as 2014's My Mistress, where Emmanuelle Beart is a dominatrix who strikes up a relationship with a younger man.
Its writer and director is Halina Reijn, who in her parallel career as an actress co-starred in Black Book, the 2006 wartime thriller from Elle and Basic Instinct director Paul Verhoeven. Babygirl is her third feature as a director, and is a provocation in the classic Verhoeven mould.
The film that Babygirl is arguably most indebted to, however, is Paul Verhoven's Elle (ironically, both Verhoeven and Reijn are Dutch), which similarly explored the problematic sexual desires of a powerful older woman who has a “complicated” relationship with consent.
Director/writer duo Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, the scenarists from A Quiet Place, have cast Grant in a role that goes against the majority of his career, and for the better.
Dutch writer-director Halina Reijn knows her genre (as an actor, she once worked under Paul Verhoeven, of "Basic Instinct" fame) but "Babygirl" is more psychological drama than thriller.