Cinema releases: New films from January 15, 2025

«Babygirl»

At the heart of the malaise. Seeing Samuel, one of her new interns, taming a difficult dog in the street, Romy, a feared and recognized businesswoman, immediately experiences a sexual and animal attraction. But to say that it is reciprocal is not true. However, she will catch the young man in her net, suggesting a BDSM affair in which she would be the victim of more or less degrading, more or less disturbing and not always imaginative erotic games. But rather than suggest, we should write impose. About halfway through the film, both of them talk about consent as something important in a relationship. Except that in “Babygirl”, there is no consent, but only a form of unequivocal control.

More than fifty years old, married with two children, Romy essentially seeks to have control over her intern. It is not a question of desire, moreover, but of possession, the neurotic manifestation of an impulse experienced by a narcissistic pervert character who does not want to admit it. As proof, he tries to escape her, at several key moments, to put an end to this affair, to run away from her. But the power she exercises over him is also that of a hierarchy, which poses threats to the young man’s future within the company. Threats that he turns in his favor by evoking the possibility of telling their affair to other executives.

Falsely sulphurous and problematic, this erotic thriller, barely better filmed than “50 Shades of Grey”, could capitalize on other themes. For example by wondering about the aging of bodies. Kidman doesn’t come out any better. Faced with Harris Dickinson (the unbearable hunk of “Without Filter” by Ruben Östlund), she cowers, as if locked in a body that shames her, crushed by the weight of what she embodies. We don’t know if she was aware of it, but in any case, the 57-year-old actress is less convincing than Demi Moore in “The Substance”, which also deals in its own way with the fight against aging. For Dutch director Halina Reijn, who until then had only directed one horror film, “Bodies, Bodies, Bodies”, this is certainly no coincidence. Disappointing. PGA

Note: *

•= hateful, °= at your own risk, *= good, **= interesting, ***= excellent, ****= masterpiece

“I’m still here”

It’s been a long time since we’ve heard from Walter Salles. Twelve years old. His last film, in 2012, was the adaptation of Kerouac’s novel, “On the Road.” “I’m Still Here” is also an adaptation of a book written by Marcelo Rubens Paiva and published in 2015 in Brazil. He talks about the disappearance, during the military dictatorship in 1971, of his father Rubens Paiva, a member of the Brazilian Labor Party. It is therefore the story of a torn family that is told in this political fresco in which the human comes before the discourse.

Salles’ talent as a storyteller remains intact, his film delves into the recent past without adding tons of pathos. He transmits an era, reinventing every detail of a bygone world that should not be forgotten, but not glorified either. Staying at the right distance from a subject, whether it is powerful or not, is the first quality of a filmmaker. “I’m Still Here” was rewarded with a well-deserved screenplay prize at the last Venice Film Festival. PGA

Note: ***

•= hateful, °= at your own risk, *= good, **= interesting, ***= excellent, ****= masterpiece

“Memoirs of a Snail”

Winner of the best feature film at the last Annecy festival, this stop motion film (like those of Claude Barras, with whom it has a certain kinship) shot in Australia manages to move with a sense of minimalism which only seems to belong to to Adam Elliot, its author. We follow the misfortunes of an orphan collector left alone in the world. Between Dickens and Kipling, a tale as sad as it is beautiful. PGA

Note: **

•= hateful, °= at your own risk, *= good, **= interesting, ***= excellent, ****= masterpiece

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