{"id":10481,"date":"2024-12-28T22:25:24","date_gmt":"2024-12-29T03:25:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=10481"},"modified":"2025-01-13T16:17:20","modified_gmt":"2025-01-13T21:17:20","slug":"babygirl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/12\/28\/babygirl\/","title":{"rendered":"Babygirl"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Babygirl<\/strong> (2024)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A24\/Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 114 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (strong sexual content, nudity, language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Halina Reijn\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Halina Reijn\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Cristobal Tapia de Veer\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Jasper Wolf\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: December 25, 2024 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Nicole Kidman, Harris Dickinson, Sophie Wilde, Antonio Banderas, Esther McGregor, Vaughan Reilly, Gaite Jansen, Izabel Mar, Victor Slezak, Anoop Desai.<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: *** \u00bd<\/p>\n

\u00a0Let\u2019s get this part out of the way. Yes, the sexual drama Babygirl<\/strong> is reminiscent of 9 \u00bd Weeks, Secretary and Fifty Shades of Grey. Out of the three, the only one that isn\u2019t a joke is Secretary. Neither is Babygirl<\/strong>. It takes a serious, non-sleazy approach to a subject that makes a lot of people uncomfortable, sex.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Nicole Kidman (Moulin Rouge) stars as Romy Mathis, the CEO of a company that develops robotics for warehouse delivery systems. She\u2019s also wife to theater director Jacob (Banderas, The Mask of Zorro) and mother to two teenage girls, Isabel (McGregor, High School) and Nora (Reilly, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes). She\u2019s a busy woman, but it doesn\u2019t appear to get to her. She handles everything life throws at her like a pro. That is, until he shows up on the scene.<\/p>\n

\u00a0He is Samuel (Dickinson, Beach Rats), a new intern at her company. Romy first encounters him when he saves her from a dog attack on a crowded city sidewalk. She\u2019s put off by his attitude. He\u2019s not like any intern she\u2019s ever met. He insists on making her his mentor even though she\u2019s not part of that program. He says inappropriate things during their first one-on-one. He sees <\/em>her. He knows she wants to be told what to do. He wants to be the one to tell her what to do. They begin an affair in which she\u2019s the submissive and he\u2019s the dominant.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Up until now, Romy\u2019s sex life has been unsatisfying. In the film\u2019s opening minutes, we see Romy having sex with her husband. She\u2019s not into it. When they\u2019re done, she rushes into the other room and finishes herself off while watching porn. It\u2019s the only way she can achieve an orgasm. Her affair with Samuel wakes something up inside of her. She loves how he asserts dominance over her.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Written and directed by Halina Reijn (Bodies Bodies Bodies), Babygirl<\/strong> is a compelling drama for ADULTS. Thank the movie gods for that! It\u2019s like an oasis in a desert of dopey movies aimed at kids and teens of all ages- e.g. Sonic the Hedgehog 3. It kept my attention throughout and not for the reasons you might think. It\u2019s interesting to observe the shifting of the power dynamics between boss and subordinate as the relationship progresses. I was also fascinated by the ripple effect of their illicit affair, how it affected others at the office and Romy\u2019s family.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Kidman delivers an amazing performance as Romy, a woman whose past we know little about. She mentions growing up in a \u201ccommune cult\u201d. It\u2019s implied she experienced some kind of trauma. It\u2019s never explained. Would it have better helped us to understand why Romy is so drawn to Samuel? I don\u2019t think so. Just knowing something happened to her is plenty. Besides, Reijn only concerns herself with the here and now. Kidman understands that. She\u2019s absolutely perfect as a woman of power who secretly wants to have power asserted over her. She captures all the right nuances and hits every beat.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Dickinson is also incredible as Samuel, a manipulative sort who knows how the sex game is played. It\u2019s he who explains the idea of consent to Romy. This is a guy who knows how appealing he is to woman and wields it like a weapon. In one scene, he dances to George Michael\u2019s \u201cFather Figure\u201d like everybody\u2019s watching. We learn nothing about his past which is exactly the right move on Reijn\u2019s part. He\u2019s supposed to project mystery and possible danger. It\u2019s Dickinson who really holds Babygirl<\/strong> together. If he botched it in any way, the film would have completely fallen apart.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Reijn gets everything right in Babygirl<\/strong>. The cinematography by Jasper Wolf perfectly captures the raw emotion in every scene. He blends light and shadow to create a world that\u2019s almost dreamlike. The deadpan tone of the film augments the look of it. It doesn\u2019t make light of its serious subject nor is it a voyeuristic piece filled with cheap thrills. It legitimately has something to say about control and submission, in sex and in life. The supporting cast does a fine job as well, especially Sophie Wilde (Talk to Me) as Romy\u2019s assistant Esme and McGregor as the daughter in her first serious relationship with another girl. Banderas is quite good as the husband faced with his wife\u2019s infidelity.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Make no mistake. Babygirl<\/strong> is not a light, fluffy cinematic puff piece. It\u2019s definitely not a date movie. It\u2019s a serious film for serious audiences. It\u2019s the kind of film you talk about afterwards. It raises some interesting points about sex as power. It\u2019s the perfect movie to watch while your kids are in the next theater watching Sonic. What parent wants to sit through that?\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Babygirl (2024)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A24\/Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 114 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (strong sexual content, nudity, language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Halina Reijn\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Halina Reijn\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Cristobal Tapia de Veer\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Jasper Wolf\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: December 25, 2024 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Nicole Kidman, Harris Dickinson, Sophie Wilde, Antonio Banderas, Esther McGregor, Vaughan Reilly, Gaite Jansen, Izabel Mar, Victor Slezak, Anoop Desai. Rating: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10498,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dramas"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Babygirl-POSTER.jpg?fit=620%2C964&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10481"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10481\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10500,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10481\/revisions\/10500"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}