Halina Reijn

I really don’t know how to review Babygirl, a senseless study of a woman who –- after 19 years of marriage – has never admitted to her husband that she cannot orgasm without kinky S&M role-playing, which is odd since he’s a theater director. Reminiscent of erotic thrillers like 9 ½ Weeks, Fifty Shade of Gray and Basic Instinct, Babygirl is all about sex and power. As controlling tech C.E.O. Romy Mathis (Nicole Kidman) is walking to work in Manhattan one morning, she’s sexually aroused by the sight of a young man calming a ferocious dog, which is obviously a metaphor about the wild, untamed beast within us.

As she proves again in writer/director Halina Reijn’s Babygirl, Nicole Kidman throws herself convincingly and impressively into her performances. Indeed, she has already won awards for this role and has received additional nominations. However, those wanting satisfying, analytical psychological insight will have to look elsewhere, for Babygirl wallows in soft-porn preoccupation from the first image to the last. The story is simple. Strong-willed, straight-talking CEO of the New York robotic firm Tensile, Romy (Kidman) feels an irresistible attraction to a new, twentyish intern Samuel. Romy’s husband (Antonio Banderas in a one-dimensional role) loves Romy but, unbeknownst to him and despite his efforts, cannot satisfy her sexually.