In “Babygirl”, Nicole Kidman gives herself body and soul. The Hollywood star plays a CEO involved in a fiery relationship with her intern. Director Halina Reijn tells us about the rock'n'roll filming of this thriller.
In Babygirl, it's all about nuance and power. Nicole Kidman plays Romy, CEO of a major robotics company, powerful woman and fulfilled mother. Her life turns upside down when she meets the gaze of her young intern (Harris Dickinson) with whom she will maintain an affair based on domination.
The film, which is inspired by the erotic thrillers of the nineties, reverses the mechanisms through sex. Hierarchically superior to her protégé, Romy becomes submissive to him to satisfy her own desires.
Nicole Kidman, impressive, stops at nothing. Her performance even earned her the Best Actress award at the Venice Film Festival. The director, Halina Reijn, makes her third film here. A former actress, notably for Paul Verhoeven, she knows a thing or two about sulphurous stories.
“I wanted to talk about power, sex and consent through a comedy of manners, a fable, so that there was also a lot of humorshe explains to AlloCiné. My wish was to address all those themes that we all struggle with and have fun with, in one way or another.”
Microphones in the walls
The numerous sex scenes were filmed in a completely secure and inaccessible environment. The filmmaker details the process through a sequence which takes place in a hotel room:
“We built this bedroom decor in the studio, put up all four walls and nWe hid microphones everywhere. So there was no one inside, apart from the two actors and my cinematographer, who was holding the camera herself. It was completely closed.”
Tom Desroches Director Halina Reijn in Paris, November 22, 2024.
Halina Reijn knows better than anyone that these sequences can be difficult for actors. “At least there was no 500 men around in North Face jackets eating pizza while you lie on the floor faking an orgasm“, she says.
Nicole Kidman et Harris Dickinson also worked with intimacy coordinators who thought of the sex scenes as fight scenes.
Paul Verhoeven's advice
The director says: this film would not have been possible a few years ago. “I am part of the Me Too movement as an actress and without that movement, I don't think I would be sitting across from you right now. I don't think a filmmaker would have that much freedom to tell this story.“
Halina Reijn took great inspiration from the advice given to her Paul Verhoevenking of sulphurous films, during the filming of Black Book: “Each film begins with a question we ask ourselves.“
“I make cinema mainly to tackle darker things, subjects that scare us, taboos. Especially at a time when I feel like we're going backwards. But I think the only reason to tell stories is to provoke a conversation.”
Comments collected by Thomas Desroches, in Paris, November 22, 2024.
Babygirl can be seen at the cinema
