'BABYGIRL' REVIEW: I Feel the Ghost of 'Eyes Wide Shut' Past [4/5]
Celebrating "Mentor" Nicole Kidman
[Rating 4/5] - dir. Halina Reijn - 2024 - United States - R - 1h 54m - Erotic Thriller
Uhhhh… get a room.
Kidman is back in the throes of sexual dynamism and experience, just like she was approximately 25 years ago at the hands of Stanley Kubrick and in the eyes of then-husband Tom Cruise.
That film, Eyes Wide Shut (1999), not only played on the Erotic Thriller tropes audiences had grown used to, but also played on real life dramatics. Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman were (arguably) at the peak of their fame. They were one of the couples of the 1990s. That they eventually divorced, and she went on to have an illustrious career full of challenging roles and he sank into the cold recesses of Scientology and action figure cinema is a tale for another time, but perhaps relevant to why Kidman might be willing to re-enter such choppy waters, and Cruise prefers to remain not just on the beach but far inland.
In Eyes Wide Shut, Kidman played “Alice”, a dissatisfied socialite housewife, drawn into the orbit of a societal mystery bigger than her family. Here, in actor-turned-director Halina Reijn’s Babygirl, she explores the foreboding moors of 2024 sexuality, and power. She plays “Romy”, a high powered CEO type. She can boss around her husband (Antonio Banderas, where have you been, my king?), and account for everything in her life just so — possibly to the point of losing her warmth as a person.
Eventually, she finds herself wondering where the fun is in that?
She meets a cool, controlled, attractive young employee (Harris Dickinson) at her company who seems unintimidated by her position, and looks and acts comfortable taking the lead — whether it’s in conversation or in bed — in this hypnotic, Rasputin-esque way.
Faced with the first hint of a thrill in years, what’s Romy to do?
I’m not certain Babygirl or Kidman’s role in it will develop the same rabid cult following Eyes Wide Shut did, but it is a role we might look back on at the end of Kidman’s career with increased respect.
Sure she was blessed with a beautiful face, but she’s put in the work to make her characters far, far more than that.
She has redefined with her roles what the public considers plausible for “the hot character”.
This is her taking the next leap.
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P.S. Romy’s two daughters are like the two sides of her personality, which I enjoyed.
P.P.S. I’m pretty sure about a third of the way through the movie Babygirl uses the same classical music Eyes Wide Shut usessssss.
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‘Babygirl’ is out now.
Selected Movie Quote: “I chose you as my mentor.”
[Rating 4/5] - dir. Halina Reijn - 2024 - United States - R - 1h 54m - Erotic Thriller