Babygirl
Updated: 6 days ago
The erotic film is too timid in its plotting and creativity to grasp attention

The erotic romance had its moment in the 1980s and 90s, with 9 ½ Weeks (1986), Fatal Attraction (1987), and Basic Instinct (1992). It phased out in a more prudish 2000s and was approached by extreme caution in the 2010s. However, TV series Bridgerton (2020) jumpstarted the return to steamy seduction with the overdue female perspective. Films have been slower to pick up from TV, but the likes of Deep Water (2022), Fair Play (2023), and Last Summer (2023) have echoed this trend. The latest film to frame itself amongst eroticism is Babygirl (2024).
Babygirl follows powerful New York CEO of an automation company Romy (Nicole Kidman), who lives a happy life with her theater director husband (Antonio Banderas) and her two daughters (Esther McGregor, Vaughan Reilly). However, she’s struck by a daring intern at her company, Samuel (Harris Dickinson), who’s subtle power-play jabs turn her on, precipitating an affair.
Babygirl is writer-director Halina Reijn’s follow-up to her enjoyable horror-comedy Bodies, Bodies, Bodies (2022). While that previous film encapsulated Gen-Z humor to perfection, Babygirl seeks to bring a modern look at imbalanced relationships. However, age gaps and gender dynamics have been explored to death in cinema in the likes of The Graduate (1967) to The Reader (2008) and even May December (2023) last year. As such, this isn’t fresh material, albeit Reijn is displaying it with more playfulness and cheek than those previous films.
Babygirl, however, suffers from a lack of development beyond its initial concept. Characters remain flat and inscrutable, the stakes of family and career only appear in danger on paper, and there is no irresistible chemistry between lovers. This latter aspect is due to their scenes between being surprisingly short and intermittent. Sex is featured, yet for a film selling itself as risqué, it never uncovers our characters as vulnerable with each other, only showing some foreplay or masturbation in the most “explicit” scenes. Babygirl appears prudish compared with the unfiltered nature of its predecessors in the 1980s or even mid-2000s like Unfaithful (2002). As such, there is a cold distance between viewers and the affair itself, with more being implied than immersed.
Kidman and Dickinson are incredibly talented, and when given awkward scenes, delve into them showing an admirable trust and partnership in one another. However, Babygirl never gives them depth to make viewers distinguish and understand their attraction. There are timid hints, such as a wink at a potential Oedipal complex from Samuel, yet they are never followed up on. The structure of Babygirl doesn’t allow for character development to happen either. Instead, our characters wander through meetups, but never delivering a standout scene, following familiar and unremarkable beats (club, office bathroom, hotel room). Without a proper crescendo, character development, or seductive arc, Babygirl’s pace begins to weigh on you, and a lack of steamy distractions makes you wonder where the film is heading.
The result is a rather unsatisfying film that is never fully interested in its characters or story, yet doesn’t commit to the daring seductiveness it aspires to either. It is only committed performances from Kidman and Dickinson that keep you watching, yet you’re more likely to be yawning than fanning yourself by the time credits roll.
5.8/10
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