Power and peril abound in fem-gazed erotic thriller BABYGIRL

Babygirl
Written and directed by Helena Reijn
Starring Nicole Kidman, Harris Dickinson, Antonio Banderas
Not yet rated
Runtime: 1 hour 54 minutes
U.S. theatrical release December 25

by Mo Moshaty, Staff Writer

It’s not often that women get to push back from societal stigmas in film. A League of Their Own broke the baseball gender barrier, Jo March of Little Women fought to not be thought of as property but as her own woman with a prosperous writing career. All well and good, and good for the genre of “women’s films”, but writer-director Halina Reijn’s Babygirl takes the female gaze to new heights and pulls audiences of all genders into the 21st century with its frank view on the female orgasm, it’s ill-thought elusiveness and its societal shame.

High-powered corporate maven, Romy (Nicole Kidman) is in full Diane Keaton Baby Boom mode. Floating through the day of packing school lunches, doing her $400 skincare routine, donning Celine and Blahnik for the office and heading into interns and assistants following her every whim. Her playwright and director husband Steven (Antonio Banderas) believes they have it all. Two great daughters, a sprawling estate, a solid 19-year marriage and a wonderful sex life. 

Romy would strongly disagree with the last part. 

As the start of a new process in her firm, Romy is updated that she will need to mentor an intern for the next few months to get them acclimated to the business: a notion Romy deeply resents and hardly has time for. She is matched with Samuel (Harris Dickson), who’s familiarity and abruptness throw Romy for a loop in an atmosphere where she’s used to being in control, and does she ever enjoy that. 

Over the course of months Romy and Samuel engage in a sub/domme relationship, rife with clubbing, role-play, tenderness and the occasional roughness and it’s a fantasy come to life for Romy whose sexual pleasures have gone unnoticed and unexplored and for that view alone, this adulterous move makes it all worth it. But it’s the multiple faces Romy has to wear in order to keep the boat afloat, wearing on her conscience and psyche in tandem. 

What this film eviscerates about society’s view on women’s pleasure is its willingness to believe a woman should simply be satisfied with the sexual routine their partner enjoys and not to extend further or ask for what truly pleases them. It begs the question of “what about my environment and the society makes me feel like I can’t ask for these things?” Babygirl encourages the conversation of personal kink and desire, pushing the boundaries of personal comfort in favor of ultimate pleasure and we could do better as a society in welcoming that moment of inconvenience.