Why is Nicole Kidman’s erotic thriller, Babygirl, so ‘shocking’?
Anything starring Nicole Kidman deserves attention in our books, but her latest film, Babygirl, has been gaining extra exposure for its ‘shocking’ content. But is it really as shocking as we're being made to believe?
The Oscar-tipped film tells the tale of Romy Tensile (Nicole Kidman), a married woman (her husband is played by Antonio Banderas) fed up with her ‘perfect’ life as the high-powered CEO of a robotics company and thus she begins a sordid affair with a young intern, Samuel (Harris Dickinson).
It's a story about power, lust and doing things you shouldn't. Not exactly themes we haven't seen covered on the big screen before. So what's all the hype about? And why is everyone talking about it?
Is it really all that shocking?
Granted, having a carnal affair with your boss isn't your average relationship – not even close – but watching someone in a position of power having an affair with a subordinate isn't new to our screens, nor at this point is a relationship with a large age gap. We're not told of the exact age gap in the film, but we do know that Kidman is 57 and Dickinson is 28 in real life.
What is more shocking - at least it might be depending on who you're watching it with - is some of the film's more explicit scenes. Notably, the opening scene with Kidman running, unsatisfied, bare-bottomed from her marital bed to her laptop in search of domination pornography (an apt foreshadowing of things to come), as well as Kidman on all fours eating from the palm of Harris Dickinson's hand before an explicit moment...
And of course, there's the now-infamous 'milk scene' where Samuel orders Romy a glass of milk from across the bar during the office happy hour and when the tab is paid at the end of the night, calls her a 'good girl' for drinking it. Something which apparently actually happened to director Halina Reijn in real life.
In fact, some of the intimate scenes were so intense that Kidman had to take a pause from filming, telling The Independent: “There were times when we were shooting where I was like, ‘I don’t want to orgasm any more. Don’t come near me. I hate doing this. I don’t care if I am never touched again in my life! I’m over it.'"
Female desire has long been a taboo and yes, the film is full of explicit scenes and some that might indeed shock you, but what's great about it - besides Nicole Kidman's knockout performance - is that it treats the dark side of this desire with a surprising amount of sensitivity, neither judging nor vilifying the relationship. Isn't it about time we saw a bit more of that one screen?
All credit to the director, Halina, too, for her choice to include the less glamorous aspects of being a high-flying female CEO that make her perhaps a bit more relatable to us mere mortals from squeezing into a skin-tight dress to getting botox injected.
Who stars in Babygirl?
Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson are joined by the following cast members:
Antonio Banderas (Zorro)
Sophie Wilde (Talk to me)
Esther Rose MacGregor (Obi-Wan Kenobi, alongside her father, Ewan)
Izabel Mar (Showing Up)
Anoop Desai (The Adults)
Where can I watch the film?
Babygirl will be released in UK cinemas on 10th January.
You Might Also Like
