Imperfect but Refreshing With Compelling Performances

Posted in: A24, Kaitlyn Booth, Movies, Review | Tagged: Babygirl

Babygirl doesn’t entirely work, but it’s so refreshing to see female sexuality explored through a woman’s lens that you can overlook the flaws.

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Babygirl is an imperfect but refreshing exploration of female sexuality from a woman’s perspective.

Director: Halina Reijn
Summary: A high-powered CEO puts her career and family on the line when she begins a torrid affair with her much younger intern.

Babygirl is Female Sexuality From A Woman’s Perspective

You could say a lot about the way that women are presented on screen for film. As media has evolved, we have started to talk about the concept of the “male gaze.” While that is an imperfect way to look at things, it does spark an interesting conversation about how women are presented and who is telling our stories. We have also started having more and more conversations about different sexual dynamics with less judgment [though plenty of people still judge, unfortunately]. Babygirl blends the idea of women telling stories about female sexuality and the exploration of different and sometimes taboo sexual dynamics.

Right out of the gate, this might be one of the most healthy depictions of power dynamics in a relationship that has been presented on screen. When people think of someone dominating another person, they think of something like Fifty Shades of Grey, but there is an emphasis in Babygirl about consent being given at every level of this problematic dynamic. This is a dynamic that the film does not shy away from, and it is addressed at the outset. It’s not demonized, but it’s not romanticized either.

However, if the mere concept of an age-gap relationship gives you the ick, then Babygirl isn’t the movie for you, and that’s fine. The movie isn’t here to hold your hand through this relationship, and at times, it feels like it wants you to be uncomfortable about this entire thing and fundamentally aware that this isn’t healthy for either of these people. It’s a fine line to walk, and Babygirl doesn’t always pull it off, but it does more than it doesn’t.

The reason the film works at all is the excellent directing and writing by Halina Reijn. It feels like people are going to try and make this into 2024’s Poor Things as they continue to debate the merit of sex scenes. However, considering what this movie is about, it’s not nearly as bad as some people are going to make it sound. It does feel like the middle dragged a bit, leading the first act into the second. Once Babygirl hits the ground, it doesn’t really stop much for a breath until the ending, but the slow burn in the middle is to the detriment of the pacing. It’s not as egregious as other films that are currently being hailed as near-perfect, but it is there.

Excellent Performances Portraying Incredibly Flawed Human Beings

What this film does have is one of the two excellent supporting male performances this year from relatively unknown actors putting in work that would make veteran actors flinch. Samuel is an extremely tough role and to say that the character is complex would be an understatement. However, Harris Dickinson is mesmerizing, and he really makes you understand and believe why someone like Romy would risk everything for this. It might be one of the overall best supporting actor performances of the year, and it’s a real shame that more people aren’t talking about it. If there is any justice in the world, he’ll be getting more roles from here on out.

As for Nicole Kidman, well, it’s Kidman, and she’s always fantastic. However, Romy is a tough role to play because she is a woman who is both an insane control freak while also dying for someone to tell her what to do. She’s not exactly a likable person; no one in this movie really is, aside from certain members of Romy’s family, but she is also not contemptible. The film is very aware of the cliches that Romy is falling into, the CEO and the younger intern, and it isn’t shying away from what that means for her as a woman with power and how she wields it.

The rest of the supporting cast is also fantastic, with Sophie Wilde playing an underappreciated role in this film and an underappreciated person within the story itself, so that worked out well. It’s amusing how it worked out like that. If there is anyone who is the moral center of Babgirl [who is an adult], it’s her, and even she’s a very flawed human being. Antonio Banderas, as Jacob, isn’t a terrible human; he too is just flawed, and no one in this story knows how to talk to each other.

Everyone in this cast feels incredibly human in a way that is sometimes missing from films that explore sexual taboos like this. People think they need to make such characters incredibly arch or very black and white to try and avoid making some sort of moral judgment about what these people are doing. Romy is cheating on her husband. Samuel is aggressively pursuing a married woman without a care in the world for the family he knows she has. Babygirl isn’t trying to say whether or not the sexual dynamic is right or wrong, it is just there, and when everything inevitably falls apart, everyone has to face the consequences of their actions because that is what it means to be an adult making adult choices.

Babygirl doesn’t entirely come together in the end, but it’s so refreshing to see female sexuality explored through a woman’s lens that the flaws aren’t deal-breaking by any stretch of the word. It’s not going to be for everyone, and if seeing this sort of thing on the screen will give you the ick, then this isn’t the film for you. However, if you’re willing to go in with an open mind and give it a chance, you’ll walk away satisfied…if you know what we mean.

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