Every once in a while, Hollywood likes to crank out a steamy erotic thriller. Movies like 9 ½ Weeks (1986), Basic Instinct (1992), Eyes Wide Shut (1999), The Secretary (2002) and Fifty Shades of Gray (2015) come to mind.
They typically fall into the category of soft core porn, walking a thin line that’s just shy of Triple-X entertainment. Everything is implied. Nothing is graphic. They are tasteful, but teasing, pushing the boundaries of good taste within the guidelines of the rating system. They cause a stir and make money at the box office.
The latest installment is Babygirl starring Nicole Kidman as an aging, but attractive CEO who appears to have it all—a position of wealth and power, a beautiful home with two daughters and a husband who looks like Antonio Banderas (played by Antonio Banderas). The only thing missing in her life is sexual gratification. Like the Linda Lovelace character in Deep Throat she is unable to have an orgasm.
This is made abundantly clear in the opening sequence in which Kidman’s character Romy fakes an orgasm while having heated sex with her husband. Minutes afterward, she retreats to another room of the house to watch pornography on her laptop and masturbate to the point of climax.
Romy is a woman with dark fantasies of being controlled and dominated. Her opportunity arrives in the form of a young male intern Samuel (Harris Dickinson) who quickly identifies his mentor’s secret desires and quickly proceeds to make her dreams some true.
In a reversal of the dynamics of movies like Fifty Shades of Gray, it’s a powerful woman being obsessed with a younger, seemingly vulnerable partner. Of course, all that quickly changes when Romy realizes that her attraction could prove to be fatal to her career and marriage.
In the meantime, Babygirl serves up all the kinkiness that movies like this are famous for. We see Romy removing her panties, stripping, crawling around on the floor on all fours like a dog, and licking milk out of a saucer like a house cat, all at the bequest of her young lover. While the early encounters are meant to be erotic, the are awkward, at best.
In the tradition of the other aforementioned erotic thrillers, Babygirl offers eye candy images and a hot, pop soundtrack. Kidman looks sensational. Her character Romy is an affluent, middle-age woman trying desperately to cling on to her youth using every cosmetic trick in the book. It works. If anything, Babygirl is a vanity film putting to rest any concerns that Nicole Kidman is past her prime.
Some might question the casting of Harris Dickinson as her lover Samuel. The portrayal leans into his boyishness to the point that you wonder what Romy’s attraction is, other than pure, dark fantasy.
Samuel looks like a character that strayed off the set of the first season of Friends. He lacks magnetism, substituting chain-smoking for attributes what would better define him as an object of desire.
As with other erotic thrillers, Babygirl is more style than substance. The dramatic resolution to all the build up and suspense is tossed away in an ending that is a disappointment.
Then again, movies like this are less about story than the saucy elements that comprise the story.
Babygirl is being released on Christmas Day. It isn’t a Christmas story, though it takes place during the Christmas season. It is being billed as an erotic thriller though It really isn’t a memorable or original film in that genre. What it is, is a star vehicle for Nicole Kidman who bares it all and proves that her career is still going strong.
Photos courtesy A24.