Babygirl (2024)

I was quite blown away by Reijn's directoral approach in her film Babygirl. The way she tackles her story, through a dreamlike means of weaving her narrative, is both gorgeous and fascinating. It adds layers to her tale of a woman finding her way to sexual discovery that a more traditional means of story telling would miss. Instead of just moving from one event to another, she overlaps moments and emotional beats so they blend together. They also don't always feel quite real, a brave choice in light of her story and central character. I questioned a few times how much of what I was seeing was "true" and how much was fantasy. This blending is essential, I felt, to communicating Reijn's story as so much of sexual fulfillment in our lives is fantasy and the fantastic elements, the connections going on in our minds that may or may not be loosely connected to what we do with our bodies. 

Babygirl will likely make many uncomfortable, as it explores a number of scenarios that are admittedly inappropriate but also deeply personal. Kidman's character is both morally blameworthy and completely human. She is fumbling her way into a discovery she was never taught she could have. Babygirl could have easily been a cautionary tale critiquing her desires, but it doesn't do that. The film continuously pulls the rug out from underneath us as we, like our protagonist, aren't she she should be getting what she wants. But that's the point. She is entitled to what she wants and to not feel shame for wanting (or getting it) but because of all the walls that have been put up around her, neither she nor her audience are comfortable with her getting it. And the route to which she achieves it is problematic and fraught.

The men in Babygirl are thinly drawn, on purpose I believe. Dickinson is clearly painted as all fantasy, which is why I questioned a few times whether the film as giving us a potential dream sequence in moments. Banderas is unfortunately written the poorest. He is two dimensional mostly, and near the end falls into some pretty seriously cliched moments. If I had any problem with Babygirl it was how little interior it gave the male characters. I understand intellectually why this may have been a choice, but some of the film's best moments are when they get to have real feelings, like Dickinson's exploration of rules or a lovely moment where he asks to be held. I'm not sure Banderas' character gets any of that. 

But it's not just the male characters which are barely there. There is a subplot with Wilde which feels like it also could have had more nurturing. When she flips her character it almost comes from nowhere and I wish the film had given us more context with her. 

But this isn't there story. Like the main character the film fumbles a bit towards its rather glorious ending.  As it crescendos to some wonderful moments (like her telling off a colleague - despite him being another character pulled out of the blue) or the sweetly handled last scene of final liberation, I appreciated all I had seen. This isn't a film condemning its subject for her missteps. It celebrates her for achieving what she wants, fantasy and all. 

Babygirl

Starring: Nicole Kidman, Harris Dickinson, Sophie Wilde, Antonio Banderas 

Writer/Director: Halina Reijn