(Updated 12/10/2024)
Over the past decade, Nicole Kidman has produced and starred in so many different television shows, one might forget that she’s among the very best actors to ever grace the silver screen. Kidman at her most daring, whether in EYES WIDE SHUT, BIRTH, or DESTROYER, is a sight to behold. This Christmas, we’re being given her most challenging role yet, in BABYGIRL.
Written and directed by Halina Reijn, BABYGIRL finds Nicole Kidman’s Romy embroiled in a high-stakes affair with the mysterious Samuel, played by Harris Dickinson (TRIANGLE OF SADNESS).
What's the Babygirl Release Date?
A24 will release BABYGIRL in movie theaters on December 25, 2024.
Get Steamed Up With the New Babygirl Trailer
Romy, CEO of a shipping company, has it all: a loving marriage (her husband played by a delightful Antonio Banderas), two talented children, and a position few women are allowed to ascend in the male-dominated industrial world. On her way to work one day, she sees a younger man manage to tame a violent dog with a treat. Unable to shake the allure of the man whispering “good girl” to the dog, her life is rocked when that same man shows up later that day in a pool of incoming interns.
Being in charge comes with many perks but Romy, the boss both at home and at work, finds herself wanting. In Samuel, she discovers that what she has been craving is, let’s say, a more submissive lifestyle to offset the stressors of daily decision-making. In giving into these desires, she inevitably uncovers a deeper, more salacious layer: The thrill of being caught. The affair, torrid as it is, threatens to obliterate the life Romy has built for herself. As a result, this slick, sexy thriller turns into a delicious cat-and-mouse standoff. One not just between Romy and Samuel, but between Romy and her desire.
A Director's Personal Passion
A movie as lurid, sexy, and smart as BABYGIRL feels exceedingly rare in 2024. A throwback to the erotic thriller heyday of the 90s, BABYGIRL is an enticing entry into that long-dormant canon.
Writer/director Halina Reijn, who collaborated with him as an actor in the movie BLACK BOOK, has cited filmmaker Paul Verhoeven as an inspiration when writing BABYGIRL. Her film wouldn’t feel at all out of place next to a title like Verhoeven's BASIC INSTINCT.
Just as she upended the teen slasher in BODIES BODIES BODIES, modernizing it for Gen Z audiences, Reijn gives a woman's touch to that '90s, more male-focused template. Feeling frustrated that the erotic thriller had so little to say about women’s desires, Reijn wrote a script with the hope that the film might spark conversations so many women want to have but may be afraid to due to societal norms. There’s something radical about seeing this kind of story up on the big screen, told fully from a woman’s point of view. To see a movie star like Nicole Kidman, now in her 50’s, pushing herself to explore said desires, makes this one a must-see.
A Christmas Movie That Isn't for the Entire Family
Christmastime is always a chance to escape to the movies. When the gifts are unwrapped and the feasts are had, few things are better than family outings to the cinema. But there aren't always enough movies for the grownups of the family to escape into around this time of year.
That’s what makes BABYGIRL the perfect salve for parents looking for something a little more provocative to engage with while the kids see SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 3 or MUFASA: THE LION KING. Make no mistake, family outings are a great time to bond over the shared experience of cinema, but sometimes parents want something a little more their speed. BABYGIRL electrifies those desires.
Going for Gold
If you’re an Oscar fanatic, you won’t want to miss BABYGIRL, as Nicole Kidman firmly plants herself as a Best Actress frontrunner. It would be her sixth nomination and, if she stays in the lead, her second win.
BABYGIRL opens on December 25.
All images courtesy of A24.