“Cementing her status as Hollywood’s boldest actress, Nicole Kidman bares herself every which way – physically, emotionally and artistically – in ‘Babygirl'”, Halina Reijn’s erotic thriller about a kinky workplace affair, said Tom Shone in The Sunday Times.
She plays Romy, a CEO who cheats on her theatre-director husband (Antonio Banderas) when she falls for Samuel (Harris Dickinson), an intern newly arrived at her firm.
‘Subtle-as-smoke’
Be warned: the film takes its lovers “to the edge of destruction, and its audience to the edge of embarrassment” – at one point, Kidman is seen “crawling around on all fours, lapping at a saucer as if she were a cat” – but it’s as riveting as it is squirm-inducing, and Kidman has found the ideal collaborator in Dickinson, who proves to be a master of “subtle-as-smoke line readings”. Just be sure not to go “with your children, or your parents, or with a date”.
‘Ploddingly predictable’
Kidman gives a “brave, exposed performance”, said Wendy Ide in The Observer, but it’s a pity that her character is “a thinly written collection of urges rather than a fully fleshed out” person. As for the film itself, it tries painfully hard “to be provocative” – but feels “more synthetic and mannered than spontaneous and transgressive. For all its silky shots of tantalising erotic ecstasy and Kidman’s gorgeously luxe wardrobe, it’s ploddingly predictable stuff.”
It’s all pretty “preposterous”, said Matthew Bond in The Mail on Sunday, like “Fifty Shades of Grey” with echoes of Steven Soderbergh’s “Secretary”, but “with the distinct risk of a ‘Fatal Attraction’-style comeuppance”.
And while “the sex and the silliness” is quite fun, “how Kidman is picking up awards nominations for this defeats me. For taking off her clothes at the age of 57? In 2025? Really?”