You can’t help what you want. And with that one maxim, Babygirl (2024) sustains a whole film – keeps it tense and fraught and miserable from start to climax. It’s a more serious evolution of the erotic thriller genre that’s had a lot of controversy over the years, but somehow Babygirl (2024) proves to be original in its own intense way, threading the pains of sex and power and sheer want with more incisive precision and less exploitation than its predecessors. It’s nothing revolutionary but it’s captivating to say the least, brilliantly acted and at times almost magical in the world it spins. But it’s no fun, that much is certain – don’t look for a Valentine’s Day movie here.
Nicole Kidman stars as Romi Mathis, a high-powered CEO at a top tech company – a self-made woman, an icon, and a mother. She’s capable and inspirational, if slightly stressed out. Her sex life with dishy playwright husband Jacob has collapsed, her deeper wants desperately unsatisfied. And then from the streets and into her boardroom comes Samuel, the steel-jawed new intern played with charismatic intensity by Harris Dickinson. He’s obtuse and controlling but innately, almost supernaturally sensitive to her needs. Romi wants to surrender control and this far younger man, whose life she can make or break in the workplace, can give her the powerlessness she craves.
There’s something horrible about that idea. Isn’t a film that suggests that a smart, driven and successful woman secretly wants to be dominated extremely retrograde – even misogynistic? But Babygirl (2024) forces you to reconsider. Her desires don’t intersect with her achievements, and there’s no sense of this being anything other than an individual case. The paradox is the point; you can’t help what you want. Even someone as genuinely brilliant as Romi still has to contend with her most secret feelings, whatever they are.
Of course a clandestine affair ensues, and a lot of fraught and difficult sex is broken down to the most basic and unsexy principles of power and domination. It’s not a sexy movie. It commits to exploring its psychological trappings on a microscopic level, and that makes it both gripping and grimly serious, where most erotic thrillers at least go for some levity – or even some sexiness.
But there have been issues plaguing this genre. Basic Instinct (1992) had a famously exploitative edge, while newer offerings like 50 Shades Of Grey (2015) didn’t really get beyond wallowing in its own – fairly tame – shock factor. Babygirl (2024) is much more academic and keenly obsessed with the shifting boundaries of power in the bedroom and the boardroom, and that feels refreshing and stylistically consistent in the high-octane world of the film.
And that world is expertly conjured. Cristobal Tapia de Veer has created a really brilliant soundtrack that’s scary, and eerie, and turns the tension up to 11, each choral moan evoking the pain and pleasure underpinning the characters’ motivations. Halina Rejin should also be praised to the skies for a second film that’s non-intrusive, often beautifully shot and very tightly written. None of that would work without the acting. Nicole Kidman puts in a shift that shows off her acting talents in a way she hasn’t for a while, echoing back to her role in the similarly erotic but grim-faced Eyes Wide Shut (1999). Harris Dickinson proves more than a match for the veteran while Antonia Banderas suddenly begins stealing scenes with less than 30 minutes left, in his role as Romi’s husband with his own internally bubbling troubles.
Related: Prime Video has just added one of the best action movies of the 21st century
This is a pretty glowing review already, but it’s also given with a caveat. There is some humour in the film, and a lot of the audience in the cinema were laughing very comfortably along with some of the desperately awkward sex scenes. But the film does take itself very seriously from start to end, and despite not having many holes to poke in it, that does make for a pretty draining experience as we rollercoaster through a series of unfortunate decisions and collapsing relationships.
It’s a strange start to the year for film when Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu (2024) takes itself far less seriously than a Nicole Kidman erotic thriller, but it basically boils down to who’s watching. If you like your thrillers as taut as piano wire, then Babygirl (2024) is a brilliant experience, and it’s a great moment for the genre that comes highly recommended.
Still: A24