Kidman and Dickinson play with power dynamics in Babygirl
In case anyone doubts her, Nicole Kidman remains one of the most talented movie stars, still working, and proves it again in Babygirl. Kidman exists among a tiny group of actors who can effortlessly disappear into their diverse set of challenging roles. Babygirl represents another winning entry in her extensive filmography, which is a monumental testament to the longevity of her acting prowess. Babygirl is writer/director Halina Reijn’s follow-up to her comedy horror sleeper hit, Bodies Bodies Bodies. On the surface, the two films have very little in common, but within their respective stories is an incisive exploration of power dynamics and modern concepts of gender roles.
Babygirl is about Romy (Nicole Kidman), a high-powered CEO of a robotics company, who engages in an affair with a younger intern, Samuel (Harris Dickinson). Romy tries to unlock her suppressed taboo desires through the affair, while also compartmentalizing the secret relationship from her public life of work and familial obligations. Reijn’s tightly written script controls the unlikely narrative by placing the action in a contained, fabricated corporate world that pulls a suspension-of-disbelief curtain over our heads, enabling us to focus intently on the central duo’s interplay. For emotional stakes, Romy has a loving theater director husband, Jacob (Antonio Banderas), and two daughters. Banderas adds more vulnerable nuance to his performance than the role requires, which makes Romy’s extra-marital transgressions all the more sad, but also understandable, because Jacob’s sensitivity means he’s unable to provide Romy with what she needs.
Kidman and Dickinson have tremendous chemistry. At the onset, Kidman’s performance as Romy is erect and statuesque, displaying the confident, well-manicured power of a woman who has risen to the top. By the end, when she has arrived at her most fragile yet sexually fulfilled state, she is (emotionally and literally) folded in two as if her bones have softened, curled up in a fetal position wearing loose-fitting nightgowns. It’s an impressive and impactful transformation, one which Dickinson helps enable through Samuel’s unabashed straightforwardness. Samuel is naïve but curious, and opportunistic but patient. Romy and Samuel are tantalized by the idea of using each other but fail to clearly see their own selfish end games. Babygirl’s strongest scenes are the ones in which Romy and Samuel cautiously play around the boundaries of their respective desires, which Reijn purposefully captures in awkwardly long takes.
Babygirl’s pair of performances is its biggest selling point, since the thematic elements of the story – control, jealousy, desire – are right on the surface, but don’t detract from the film’s effectiveness. Even Babygirl’s obvious metaphors aren’t a hindrance to our enjoyment of the film. The significance of Romy’s role as a robotics company CEO isn’t hard to decipher. Romy is in a position of power, yet oversees a business that creates an unmanned system of efficiency. She has become, in a sense, what she controls – boxed in and incapable of diverting from her corporate programming to her deeper sexual programming. Her two daughters, one rebellious and one agreeable, are another on-the-nose metaphor for Romy’s duality. All these elements are handled deftly so that Babygirl is never boring, and is even unpredictable. The only thing more unpredictable is where Kidman will take her acting skills next, but whatever that may be, we can be sure it’ll be worth watching.
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Babygirl opens in theaters on Wednesday, December 25th.
