TIFF 2024: Babygirl Review

This will be one of many reviews during this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, to keep up with our latest coverage, click here.

The erotic thriller isn’t about sex, it is about power, either getting it back or keeping it. Above all else, a commentary about modern gender power dynamics, it is ultimately about female empowerment. A theme that continues to resonate with audiences, these films tend to be told from a male perspective, one that may not necessarily represent all the nuance of the female perspective. That’s what makes Babygirl stand out even more. It may not reinvent the wheel in terms of the genre but commanding performances and scorching hot chemistry make it hard to not look away. Written and directed by Halina Reijn, her follow-up to 2022’s Bodies Bodies Bodies is much different than what audiences may expect. A thriller driven by strong yet flawed characters and their relationships, the film is sure to leave audiences on the edge of their seats as they witness them unravelling before their eyes through a situation that increasingly spirals out of control. While there are twists and there are turns, the dynamic of Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson over the course of the film is pure magic in a story that is not afraid to go to some pretty dark places (and they were willing to go there with it).

The story follows Romy (Kidman), a high-powered executive who seemingly had it all, a loving husband named Jacob (Banderas) and their teenage daughter named Isabel (Esther McGregor). She and Jacob’s sex life were fine but it was clear that there was something missing. Romy was simply not being satisfied in the way she would have liked. However, her fortune appeared to change after meeting Samuel (Dickinson), a new intern at her company. A naive young man whose confidence and ambition came off as disrespectful, had an intuition about him where he could pick up on how she was feeling on a deeper level, breaking through the wall she created between her public and private lives. In control of much of her life, Samuel also picked up on that and how she would sometimes want to relinquish that control. Having such a magnetism to them, the sparks were there from the start so it was only a matter of time until they took their relationship to the next level. As Romy looked to him to pursue her desire, the push-and-pull dynamic between she and Samuel, as he tested Romy’s limits, was a commentary on modern gender power dynamics and a tense rollercoaster in and of itself. Escalating to the point that her life and career were in jeopardy, it was all about salvaging what was left before it was too late.

Not looking down on or passing judgement on any of its characters, Babygirl doesn’t play out the way one would expect. In the end, the film is more than just about what the characters did but rather, the complex set of emotions behind those actions. Also, not sensationalizing Romy and Samuel’s actions, they are merely a means to better understand them as characters. And that extends to Jacob. Taking a more character-centric approach, it is truly a testament to Reijn’s script and direction, and that translates to its performances. Kidman and Dickinson are sensational. Bouncing off of one another, both vulnerable and raw, the result is pure cinema.

In the end, Babygirl is a powerful erotic thriller and a sultry back-and-forth game led by a sensational Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson.

 still courtesy of Elevation Pictures

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.