Babygirl

Hey everyone, and welcome! Today, we will be talking about the film Babygirl. Fun Fact: Nicole Kidman’s AMC ad was removed from the beginning of this movie at AMC. This film came out in 2024 and stars Nicole Kidman, Harris Dickinson, and Antonio Banderas and was directed by Halina Reijn. So, without further ado, let’s get right into it.

Babygirl follows a CEO who risks her career and marriage by having an affair with her much younger Intern.

Babygirl is a scandalous workplace drama. It has similar vibes to Industry, Secretary, or Challengers.

Babygirl is such a wild movie to release on Christmas because the amount of moaning heard during the movie is a lot, so it’s just wild that they chose that day. Babygirl is one of those movies that you go see only if you are comfortable with seeing sex on screen because there is a lot, and it starts immediately. One of the most annoying things is there were grown adults giggling through the scenes, being very immature and it was annoying because, from the trailers, it shouldn't be surprising. There are scenes of sadomasochism, aka S&M, which is where one receives pleasure from inflicting or receiving pain or humiliation. With that being said, the film does present interesting topics like kinks, consent, and abuse of power.

Babygirl starts off with Romy played by Nicole Kidman and her husband going at it and then after faking the orgasm, she decides to go and finish the job herself. It immediately sets the stage that she is happy in her life with her kids and husband but there is that one thing missing which is that when they are intimate he handles himself and isn't really putting much thought into her pleasure. I wondered where her kids were becuase they were very loud in this scene.  It was interesting to see this on screen because I have heard women talk about this before but rarely have I seen it shown in a movie, let alone one with big actors. Nicole Kidman's character, Romy, Is a CEO and does not make a big fuss about it until he is challenged by a new intern everything he does turns her on and she wants to reprimand him for it but the more she interacts with him the more she wants him. It was interesting to see them interact and see how this relationship was going to play out which is her basically shipping him off to a different country in the end so she doesn't see him to protect her job and marriage.

The movie brings up the question of whether it is ok if both parties consent, even if there is a power imbalance. In the movie she lists this as one of her concerns becuase she has power over him but he says he actually has power over her to get her fired. This was interesting to me because, on one end if this was a male CEO hooking up with a female intern, I would immediately say it was an issue, but in this situation, I didn’t question it much and because of the consent, I was thinking well does it really matter if it's a man or woman in the position of power. I do think he could get her in trouble but also she has more money and resources to do what she needs to bury the story and him, so I don't think what he says is necessarily true. In the end, you see how she uses her power against him by burying the whole thing and shipping him across the country so she won’t have to run into him again, which just proves why it is bad to have these relationships at work where one person is a manager or is above them in a sense. Whatever your thoughts on this, it is definitely an HR violation and a good reason why co-workers shouldn't date.

With kinks and this power imbalance relationship on display in Babygirl, it makes you question morals. When it comes to kinks, I think so many people would say most aren't acceptable, and even in this movie, when she broaches the subject with her husband, he's a bit caught off guard, and she decides to retract her statement. Kinks usually are discussed privately with your partner, but if you have a relationship where there is poor communication, it might not be talked about, so it's just hidden, but this movie reminds you that they do exist and that others do try to act on them. When it comes to her interactions with this intern you question whether she should be doing it because of her having seniority over him but also because she has a family as well. It is interesting to bring these things into question and really get you thinking if these things should be discussed more,  should we view these things differently, or readjust our morals. One thing of note is that this situation is different because we know it is a movie, and it's not real, and we are familiar with the actors, which wouldn't translate into real life.

This is such an interesting take on workplace drama and I loved how to further drive the idea of this power imbalance they showed how lavish her life was vs his. I think part of it is to show all that she has to lose but also how even with all of this she was still missing something. She felt like her truest self with him and didn't feel judged and that is all she wanted, which her husband was not giving to her. In the end, her husband starts to do what she wants but even then, she thinking about the intern and I think it is because even though her husband started to care about her more, the one that did it first was the intern and she will always remember that experience with him because he was able to give her something that her 10+ years of marriage couldn't.

The story is very compact and they don't do a giant ensemble but keep it to the minimum amount of characters you need to know. It lets you focus much more on the scandal and not worry so much about other things going on, like they show her being a CEO but the movie is not about that it's about this scandalous situation that puts her career and marriage in jeopardy and how she manages that. When her husband finds out they still focus on the characters instead of what happens to her role in the company am the company itself which I enjoyed, a more character-driven story. The ending was a bit anti-climatic with her shipping off her secret lover but it kind of proves a point that with money and power, you could get away with anything.

My favorite part of this film was Nicole Kidman. She was great as this CEO who made a decision to risk everything to feel seen by this intern. She did great emulating power and confidence that a CEO would and how on the flip side she likes being degraded. She made me invested in how this would play out and what she would do to ensure that she is protected from whatever comes her way.

Babygirl is an interesting movie that made me have a lot of questions about morals and whether certain things are right or wrong. At the end of the day, there aren't any facts that something is right or wrong, just a difference of opinions. While I don't think the story was as great as it could be, the cast was fantastic and the locations were nice.