Nicole Kidman’s erotic new film invites honesty and orgasms into the bedroom, even if it takes a while to get there.
Kidman stars as Romy, a high-powered, sexually frustrated CEO in Halina Reijn’s 2024 film, Babygirl, released on Dec. 25. Romy begins an erotic and passionate affair with a young intern named Samuel, played by Harris Dickinson. While Babygirl wasn’t the extreme anxiety-inducing film it was marketed to be, the film placed an importance on older women’s sexual desires and sexual repression directed through a female gaze that has been long-awaited in cinema.
The movie begins with a bang, literally, as the opening scene is Romy having sex with her husband and performing a dramatic, high-pitched orgasm—only to sneak off after he’s sleeping to masturbate. Later, the audience learns that Romy has never had an orgasm with her husband, Jacob, and that she has “dark” fantasies of being dominated.
The solution to Romy’s bedroom dilemma arrives in the form of a young confident intern—who’s almost half her age—named Samuel. The two of them begin an affair where he satisfies her desire to be dominated by telling her what to do, such as making her crawl on all fours and drink milk from a saucer. Samuel dominates Romy and refers to her as his “babygirl.”
Babygirl is advertised as a thriller, but to me, it resembles more of a drama. There are tensions built throughout, but the film doesn’t follow through with its ending as Romy’s assistant and husband quickly forgive her for her affair, and Samuel’s transfer wraps up the affair neatly. In the end, Romy faces no real consequences for her unprofessionalism or infidelity. Babygirl definitely wasn’t perfect, but it raised many interesting ideas about power and the nuances of sexuality.
Though open to interpretation, I believe Romy’s initial inability to orgasm with her husband stems from her obsession with control. She wants to be the perfect CEO, the perfect mother, the perfect wife, afraid to display any form of vulnerability. Yet, deep down, her perfection entraps her. She secretly craves risks, which is why she’s temporarily sexually fulfilled by her taboo affair.
While Romy’s affair is underway, her husband is working on a play. If one looks closely at the program Romy’s holding in one scene, the play is Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler. It’s a play that follows the story of a bored married woman in the late 19th century who seeks thrills and entertainment by manipulating those around her.
This “easter egg” couldn’t have been a coincidence. Through this clever prop choice, the play illuminates similarities between Romy and Gabbler in their boredom and unfulfillment, leading both women to seek external thrills and dishonesty to fulfill their desires. For Romy and Gabbler, their desires revolve around their urge for power. For Romy, it’s sexual liberation that she seeks.
Babygirl pushes the traditional media envelope by concentrating on an older woman’s sexuality, something that Hollywood seems unwilling to do. The disregard for the sexual nature of older women has led to more internal and external barriers that exist within Romy’s character.
Many women feel shame and guilt when it comes to masturbation and sexual desires due to judgment that deems sexually active women as dirty or deviant. Women are offered less leeway to be “raunchy” or open about sexuality compared to men. Masturbation is accepted within men as normal and something that “all men do,” but for women, there’s much more stigmatization and shame. In a study done by period tracker app, Flo, 25 per cent of women aged 18 to 34 see masturbation and sexual pleasure as shameful.
Kidman’s character isn’t exempt from these stigmas—she feels shame over her sexual desires. She often expresses that she wants to be “normal,” and feels too awkward to tell her husband what she really wants in the bedroom. Though the shame isn’t being propagated by her husband—who appears to be a loving and understanding man—Romy’s shame comes from her internalized judgments.
In spite of her restraint within her marriage, Romy’s sexual liberation seems only to be through domination—which she gets from Samuel. Outside of Romy’s experience, Samuel is an elusive character. The audience doesn’t know who he is or what he wants. He seems to exist within the film solely as a foil for Romy to achieve acceptance about her sexual desires.
Babygirl is admirable for its ability to speak honestly in its examination of the nuances in women’s sexual desires, often left unexplored in the media. Through addressing the protagonist’s unhappiness in her marriage—where Romy conforms to her husband’s sexual wants instead of reaching authentic mutual enjoyment—Reijn examines the disparity of sexual satisfaction between heterosexual men and women.
The film ends on a relatively positive note when Romy explains to her husband what she desires out of their sexual relationship. She then has her first orgasm with him, leaving her affair with Samuel behind for good.
By exploring an older woman’s sexual sphere, Babygirl rejects the de-sexualization of older women that occurs in Hollywood showing that older women can be more than the asexual mother, grandmother, or the villain.
Refreshing and honest, Babygirl places an emphasis on female pleasure and authenticity in the bedroom that includes older women, challenging the traditional heteronormative male focus when it comes to sex.
Tags
Babygirl, Film, Film Review, Halina Reijn, Harris Dickinson, Nicole Kidman
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