Babygirl - Movie Review
Babygirl - Movie Review
Critics Score - 9 of 10
General Audience Score - 7 of 10
SYNOPSIS - The steaminess kicks right off as we hear moaning from Romy (Nicole Kidman), and the scene opens as we see her face. She is in the middle of doing the deed. As the shot continues, it slowly moves up until we’re looking down at her face from above, her red hair swings as the throws of passion move her, she arches back and eventually we finally see who she’s having sex with. Her husband Jacob (Antonio Banderas) comes into view as the camera moves over them, then comes back down towards his face, it keeps her in the frame but stays positioned to keep any sensitive areas obscured from view. He says “I love you”, their interlude continues a few more moments until the moaning intensifies briefly, they finish and she lays down beside him. But there’s no times for cuddles apparently, Romy gets up after a few moments and grabbing a nightgown, leaves the bedroom inexplicably. We watch as she walks down a darkened hallway, pulling the gown on while the light obscures her behind mostly, until she reaches another room containing her laptop. She opens it and clicks on some buttons, pulling up a porn website and lays down on the floor to start watching a video. In the mostly darkened room we watch as she puts her hands in between her legs and begins to masturbate while watching. We hear a man telling a woman what to do and eventually the camera settles on a closeup shot of Romy’s face, illuminated by her computer screen. After a few moments, she covers her mouth with her hand and after just a minute or so she gasps and moans, trying to mask the uncontrolled noises she’s making from the orgasm, the pleasure sensors firing in her brain.
As the title hits the screen in bright pink, a deep resounding bass drum does as well, but within a few moments we’re taken to the inside of an Amazon warehouse type of facility. The overhead drone shot moves backwards, we see aisles upon isles of bins and boxes of products with every kind of item imaginable beneath us. We finally see a close up of a little red red box with wheels with the word Autostore 001 moving around on a grid. Then another the massive grid in its entirety, fifteen to twenty of the red box/carts move around, collecting customer orders in an automated system. Boxes move up and down conveyer belts and around the warehouse, no humans are seen as the robots and machines go about their business work day. The scene switches back to a shot of Romy, the background all bright illuminated white, she’s in her bathroom preparing for her day, she looks right into the camera and puts some eye drops in her eye. She rehearses some lines for a meeting later, “Due to an increase in e-commerce and fast shipping expectations and in the face of real estate and labor shortages . . .”, she goes over what she’ll say.
As a high up in what we suppose is a newer and modernized Amazon type of business, Romy is the professional business woman but also the caring mother. We next watch her in the kitchen in her apron writing notes to each of her daughters and puts them in their backpacks. Breakfast time with Romy’s family consists of her two teenage daughters asking about shoes and sleepovers while her husband asks her about some changes to a document and kisses her while she sits at the table.
Next thing we know we’re out on the city streets, as Romy heads into the office, she comes upon a black dog that’s attacking a man on the sidewalk. She stops in her tracks and watches wide eyed as the man yells at the dog to stop and get off him. As the dog starts to run down the sideway towards her, suddenly a whistle cuts through the air and Samuel (Harris Dickinson) yells to the dog, “Come here!”. The dog isn’t his but he kneels down as it comes right to him and obeys his command, he feeds the dog some kind of treat and pets it to calm it down. “Good girl, good girl”, he repeats before he hands the leash to the owner, then stands and makes eye contact with Romy for just a moment as she silently observes him.
In the office Romy is shown recording a video for some kind of company commercial, but later her assistant Esme (Sophie Wilde) brings in the new interns at the company and she meets Samuel once again. When the two meet at the coffee station they have an exchange about how he was able to calm the dog down, but it’s clear Romy is intrigued but the mysterious young man and drawn to him. Before long, we begin to clue into the fact that Samuel has an innate gift or ability to decipher if something is in need and try to fill that need. But as the true nature of their relationship begins to unfold, their wants and needs, both sexual and otherwise, come into focus. Their relationship stays completely in the “consenting adults” lane and the film steers clear of any kind of grooming or predatory situation. This is simply an observation of these two characters, giving and getting what they need from an extramarital affair. The film hits an amazing high point at the end of the second act, but we know that just around the bend things must take a turn for the worse. As we wind our way through to the finale, the film brings more aspects of their relationship into focus even as things deteriorate, but ultimately it is a fascinating dissection of human love, lust, desires and the risks we face to satisfy our cravings for them.
To start with, I’ve gotta mention, not only how impressive this performance by Kidman was, but also her chemistry with Dickinson. Both are off the charts. Nicole Kidman has multiple Academy Awards nominations and an Oscar statue to prove her excellence as an actress, but this is truly some incredible work she’s putting out in this film. No pun intended. Like,
I know in my logical brain that she was paid to pretend that she wanted Harris Dickinson. But her eyes sold that sh!$ so well, I feel bad for her husband Keith Urban. I genuinely believe that she wanted Harris Dickinson. I say all of this jokingly of course. Mostly. Dickinson too was fantastic, it’s great to see him given some decent material and a lead role, especially after he was given nothing to do in Blitz earlier this fall. Moving on to the writing and direction from Halina Reijn, she directed the previous A24 film Bodies Bodies Bodies, but she takes the sole writing credit for Babygirl. I found both elements to be extremely impressive efforts, especially for her work behind the camera. Many of the shots are tight, close ups of our leads, sometimes just their faces, giving Babygirl a very intimate feel to it via its use of the camera work. But the writing, while still very good, left a bit to be desired. It more or less alludes to some aspects of our two leads and why they’ve gotten to the point that they’re looking for what the other can offer them. Personally, I would’ve liked an extra eight to ten minutes of screen time to flesh out more of who these two people are, but the film chooses to stay focused on the here and now. As an example, Romy references being raised in “communes and cults”, and we’re left to connect the dots as to why she has the sexual needs she does now, but it’s never elaborated on. The film could’ve used a bit more connective tissue to flesh some of these character motivations out, I would’ve loved to know more about some of the things the film skims over. As I mentioned at the outset, some of the score and music work is utterly fantastic, one needle drop at the end of the second act was so excellent, it’s stayed with me the last few days and is my favorite scene/sequence from any film this year. This is not a perfect film by any means but I loved it so much, flaws and all. While I fully acknowledge that certain aspects of the film’s content especially appeal to me because of my own background, I really think there’s some great acting and filmmaking on display here and I have Babygirl sitting among my favorite films of 2024.
SUMMARY - Not all audiences will buy what this film is selling, but what it sells, it sells hard. Kidman and Dickinson are just eating up everything they’re given to work with and while some audiences and critics might not take a liking to this one, Babygirl is the sexy as hell Christmas movie I never knew I needed.
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