‘Babygirl’ review: Nicole Kidman’s sexed-up thriller makes ’50 Shades Of Grey’ seem vanilla

Babygirl begins bracingly. Romy Mathis (Nicole Kidman) fakes an orgasm during sex with her husband Jacob (Antonio Banderas), then sneaks away to masturbate to hardcore “daddy porn” showing women being dominated by male authority figures.

It really sets the tone for this riveting erotic thriller, which is knottier and less glossy than the genre’s ’90s archetypes like Basic Instinct and Indecent Proposal. One of Babygirl‘s sexually charged scenes takes place under ugly office strip lights; another peaks with Kidman’s character drinking milk in an upmarket Manhattan bar.

Kidman’s Romy is a preternaturally poised tech CEO who lives in a lavish New York apartment with her thoughtful and supportive husband, a theatre director, and their teenage daughters Isabel (Esther McGregor) and Nora (Vaughan Reilly). At work she is supremely focused until she meets Samuel (Harris Dickinson), a slightly scruffy intern who can see through her alpha exterior and sense her desire to be dominated.

Babygirl‘s writer-director Halina Reijn, who previously made the murder mystery comedy Bodies Bodies Bodies, cleverly reveals very little about Samuel. Romy first spots him on the street placating an angry and possibly dangerous dog: is he some kind of animal whisperer with heightened powers of intuition? Either way, Samuel’s ill-fitting suit suggests his own upbringing is less privileged than the one Romy’s daughters are enjoying.

Though Romy is appalled by Samuel’s impudence – he demands her as his workplace mentor even though she’s far too senior for this role – she’s also seriously turned on. Soon they enter into an affair that’s not just spectacularly reckless because she could lose her job if they’re caught, but also kind of awkward. Romy struggles to let herself be fully submissive, while Samuel often seems to be making up his dom daddy role as he goes along. 

Reijn’s sharp, slippery Babygirl screenplay keeps us guessing about their power dynamic in a way that makes Fifty Shades Of Grey seem even more facile than it actually was. Her film also has its share of audacious setpieces.

In a meme-worthy montage scene, Romy laps a saucer of milk at Samuel’s feet to the soulful tones of George Michael‘s ‘Father Figure’ – a soundtrack choice so on-the-nose, it’s hilarious. When Romy is coaxed out to office drinks by the coworkers she normally keeps at arm’s length, Samuel sends a glass of milk, anonymously, to her table. She duly drinks it obediently to the bemusement of her colleagues.

Babygirl is slightly less compelling once Romy confesses to her husband, but the final act still contains some provocative moments. When Romy’s assistant Esme (Sophie Wilde) coolly calls out the hollowness of her boss’s workplace feminism, it makes you wonder how much of the CEO’s super-accomplished persona is really just a construct.

This isn’t a perfect film, but it is a funny, fascinating one with terrific performances from Kidman – surely the bravest A-lister around – and Dickinson as an inscrutable wildcard. You’ll submit to Babygirl’s machinations willingly and thrillingly.

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