One problem though: the film is beyond noxious.
What Is ‘Babygirl’ About?
Kidman plays Romy Mathis, a massively successful girlboss of a corporation that provides automation logistics for Amazon-esque warehouses.
Image via A24
She seemingly has it all.
There is one thing missing, though:somebody who matches her freak.
See, Jacob has apparently never given Romy an orgasm.
He reappears in her office moments later, as one of the interns joining her company.
Samuel (Dickinson) quickly makes his presence known by asking her a question and requesting her mentorship.
He blocks her from exiting the meeting, so they end up making out.
Dickinson’s Samuel has an air of unseriousness that can easily be perceived as joking.
The actor certainly doesn’t exude an air of seduction or sleaziness.
It isn’t threatening or predatory.
It’s more like a mischievous but harmless child testing boundaries.
His casting is a bit of an odd choice, but not to the point of ruining things.
The running motif is that Romy fancies being treated like a dog.
It’s her turn-on, and we know from the earlier scene that Samuel knows how.
He orders her to get down on all fours.
He commands her to eat one of those strawberry candies out of his hand.
He makes her drink milk from a dish.
If she’s unwilling to submit,he busts out the good old blackmail.
After all, he was shown that sexual harassment training video during the onboarding.
Since the writer-director is a cishet woman, does that make it inoffensive?
At a different time, I might have been more inclined to entertain Reijn’s proposition seriously.
In Reijn’s version, Romy’s alleged protectiveness feels like lip service to cover herself.
“Where Breillat made her characters feel human, Reijn only gets to superficially ghoulish at best.
Babygirlis now playing in theaters.
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