During the sexiest scene in this sex-laden psychological drama, there’s an unexpectedly serendipitous detail which neatly describes the film’s antagonist. As a sleek, shirtless Harris Dickinson undulates towards Nicole Kidman’s uptight CEO, we see a tattoo on his torso of a cherub sporting a balaclava and a machine gun.
This is one of Dickinson’s real tattoos, but it speaks volumes about the young British actor’s latest dark character: self-confident, manipulative Samuel, an intern at Romy’s (Kidman) warehouse robotics company who beguiles his boss into a passionately destructive affair.
Babygirl joins the legion of recent movies in which middle-aged women rediscover their sexuality with much younger men – a new genre presumably designed to tickle the fancy of Gen Xers facing menopause and libido anxiety.
But unlike Anne Hathaway’s saccharine-safe The Idea of You and the upcoming Bridget Jones flick where Renée Zellweger has it off with The White Lotus’s hunky Leo Woodall, Babygirl combines the danger of deceit seen in Last Summer with the complexity of sexual fantasy involving submission and control.
To this end, Kidman is typically terrific and fearless in not just her nudity but the guttural cries of pleasure Romy releases with Samuel, having gone 19 years in an orgasm-less marriage to theatre director Jacob (Antonio Banderas).
Kidman plays Romy as self-possessed, smart and unusually kind for a successful CEO, allowing Romy a flash of disappointment when her critical child (played by Ewan McGregor’s daughter Esther Rose) laughs in her face.
But many will say this is Dickinson’s show and the soon-to-be-super star of Triangle of Sadness, Scrapper and The King’s Man is certainly proving himself for both range and a surprising sensuality. The 29-year age difference between the leads is reduced to none as Samuel upends the power balance and plunges Romy into a relationship in which she is the intern.
But the racy premise and undisputed sexuality doesn’t quite overcome some of writer-director Reijn’s clunky narrative choices. Jacob is producing Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler whose protagonist is bored in her marriage; Romy’s propensity for unorthodox intimacy is blamed on her upbringing in a cult, yet Samuel remains a closed book, expressing little vulnerability but also unclear in his motives.
Neither is Dickinson a credible American in this New York-set tale. While his accent is fine, with his gold chain and ill-fitting suit, a working-class London lad persona would have made a more compelling reason for the happily settled Romy to jeopardise her life.
But Reijn knows how to fashion a gripping story and with a pumping soundtrack and steamily realistic action, Babygirl won’t push all your buttons, but it might activate a few.
Rating out of five: ★★★½
Babygirl, directed by Halina Reijn, is in cinemas now.
