Babygirl and how marketing worked maybe too well

With the t-shirts and all the merchandising, A24 and the Babygirl PR team really did a fine job at selling this kind of mid movie to the cinephile community. Expectations were high pressing play and well, it could only go downhill from there. It’s packaged so that you expect this indie morally ambiguous arthouse film, maybe a little reminiscent of The Piano Teacher, or with a touch of Gaspar Noè even, a film that explores themes of sexuality, age difference, power dynamics. But this movie is actually a lot less complex than expected, it feels much more like a dignified fanfic with great acting and cinematography than an arthouse indie project. Unfortunately - and it hurts to say - I think this film hasn’t got very much new to say… 

The opening scene reminded me a lot of Anora, cause both of the movies present themselves from the very first moment they start, the audiences know what to expect immediately. In this case what to expect is a very sensual but less explicit, yet thrilling experience. I did have a hard time trying to focus on anything other than Nicole Kidman’s wig for the first half an hour but well.. Wig-jokes aside, the performances are what saves this movie from a downfall, in my opinion.

Harris Dickinson isn’t our babygirl unfortunately, but he’s so much more...

Harris Dickinson is one of the best actors working today, and I’m not exaggerating! His performances are so detailed and distinct and peculiar, his characters are complex and believable, his deliveries are raw and charismatic. He can be sweet and tender and creepy and weird and nerdy and unsettling, altogether. You can feel for him, be scared of him, all whilst still being attracted to him. It’s confusing and it’s captivating in the best way. I can’t wait to see him in different roles, being even weirder, even creepier, even hotter. 

In his performance here, Dickinson is indeed very ambiguous, looking harmless, almost naive, and at the same time dark, manipulative, cryptic. The whole movie you feel intimidated by this young man but also you almost worry for him, it feels like he’s in way over his head, that he bit off more than he could chew, yet he seems in control. Like he’s impersonating this scarier more-adult stronger version of himself, but inside there’s just this fragile kid from nowhere looking for approval and reassurance. We keep wondering: is he a child or a man? Does he need our respect, our fear, or our tenderness? My favorite line is when in the interview room he spells it all out for us by saying: “it’s about giving and taking power, no?”. I feel like in that scene we comprehend more deeply what is happening between the characters and how new and unscripted it all feels to them too. Even though I think the whole movie is never fully ours to experience. It feels like we’re looking in, but we aren’t allowed to see everything, some things are just theirs, private, intimate, almost ritualistic. Like some scenes were cut and we’re only seeing parts of it, which feels respectful as well as unsettling.

Nicole is the undiscussed star of this movie.

She portrays versions of womanhood considered taboo with such elegance and pride that it is truly mesmerizing to watch. It makes you question what it is that society wants you to think versus what you actually think. This role required so much courage, vulnerability and power, it is incredible, so complex, so layered, she goes from being a bossy cold business woman marching head-high through the hallways of her company to literally lying on the floor masturbating to a video in the dark.

Kidman is brilliant in it, and honestly I don’t think anybody else could have done it so well.

“it’s not scary, it’s exciting”

At times it feels wrong to watch, like you’re intruding on someone’s private life, someone whom you respect and look up to such as Nicole fucking Kidman. She's naked, literally, in front of the camera. Her attraction to being subdued, felt like a way to free herself. It so much more about surrender than submission. also… I feel like giving up control takes much more courage than to be in control. And that takes courage, for the actress as well as for the character.

The movie never really lets you quite in, which makes it feel a bit soulless and distanced from the viewer. It's hot but it isn't passionate, if you know what I mean. The sexual encounters feel almost mechanic sometimes, choreographed, so proper and clean and vanilla even when stuff should get chaotic and disturbing. So overall I think this is a well done, well shot, well acted film, that's missing a little spark of feeling, a rawness, a spontaneity and a messiness.