Babygirl (2024)
Directed by Halina Reijn
A high-powered CEO puts her career and family on the line when she begins a torrid affair with her much younger intern.
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21 films that influenced Babygirl
What critics say influenced Babygirl
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.
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.
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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.
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…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.
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.
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.
On paper, it may sound like the wackiest movie sex since Elizabeth Berkley throttled about in a swimming pool during Showgirls, but unlike Paul Verhoeven’s cult classic, Reijn portrays these scenes with a surprising respect for the characters’ blossoming sexuality, allowing them the safe space they need to completely indulge in their on-screen kinkiness without fear of judgement or condemnation.