EYES WILD SHUT
Who can deny that Babygirl looks like Fifty Shades of Gray ? From a distance, it’s the same color, the same smell. In the role of almost Christian Grey, Nicole Kidman is the powerful CEO of a large tech company who rules her small world with confidence. Until a new intern catches his eye, and opens the doors to a slightly BDSM relationship. The ingredients are mixed but they are there, concocted by the director and screenwriter Halina Reijn, notably noted with her (mediocre) film Bodies Bodies Bodies.
In reality, Babygirl has more to do with The Secretarythe clever film directed by Steven Shainberg, where boss James Spader made his secretary Maggie Gyllenhaal the actress of all his sadomasochistic fantasies. There is the same ambivalence, with the desire to film bodies and the desire far from conventions and cowardice, without abandoning a certain sentimental sweetness close to silliness. A way to blow hot and cold, and to create a direct connection between ass and heart.
This is the interest and the limit of Babygirlsince the film is never as interesting as when director Halina Reijn films sex and what is around it. And too bad for the rest.
ACTION REACTION SUBMISSION
Nicole Kidman at the head of a company specializing in robotics, who repeats speeches over and over like an automaton and takes botox injections: Babygirl installed straight away flesh that has become icywhich will burst into flames at the first opportunity. Hence, perhaps, the grotesque symbolism of this story of a dog let loose in the street, and little cakes in the pocket. All it took was one tiny spark to wake up this body.
Especially since the setup is ultra-classic. The strong woman falters for the sassy boy who dares to look her in the eyes, respond to her, and knock her off her pedestal. She was just waiting for that, and he was born for it. The roles seem instantly distributed, but this is precisely one of the subjects of Babygirl : before playing, you must know your score. Director and screenwriter Halina Reijn is thus interested in the “before”. To the awkwardness, embarrassment and ridiculousness that precedes the catalog of usual sex scenes, where everything and everyone fits in and fits together without hesitation or lubricant – images that the film avoids rather well.
Babygirl thus tells of these moments when it is necessary to construct the instructions, and exchange the words before the fluids. Once in the room, Samuel loses his smart mask and searches out loud, almost in a whisper, for the procedure. Romy hesitates and backs up once, twice, three times. All those things that Hollywood “sexiness” tends to evacuate and eliminateHalina Reijn les montre.
-And that’s precisely how she avoids the worst pitfalls of the genrewhere pseudo passion serves as a smokescreen for rotten and tasteless relationships and characters. It is a question of submission and domination in Babygirlbut the story is written on the screen, with scenes of negotiations and discussions. One of the nicest surprises then becomes this male character played by l’excellent Harris Dickinsonwhich in other hands would have been yet another mascu cliché.
SEX INTENTIONS
But the moment comes when we must conclude, both in bed (or at the foot of the bed) and in the story. And it’s kind of the beginning of the end for Babygirlwho will have difficulty recovering from this climax on the carpet halfway. In this incredible scene, which almost works in mirror with the peroxided Nicole Kidman barbie of PaperboyHalina Reijn knows very well how to film a moment that has been seen a thousand times. She knowingly places her camera in this location in relation to the actress, and has something to tell about desire, breathing, pulsations, and stretching time. There, something is happening.
Besides that, many scenes seem very pale and functional in Babygirl. The evening at the office and the tie left behind, the montage of the multiple meetings, the birthday which brings the characters together with the moment in the kitchen, the night at the rave party, the marital crisis, the virile rivalry… Halina Reijn ultimately aligns too many commonplaces, flirts with the cheesy, and transform Babygirl on a marked health trail.
There are a few scenes that stand out, notably the very well-written confrontation with the assistant (excellent Sophie Wilde)which intelligently questions the responsibility of the feminine in this world. And in the role of Nicole Kidman’s daughter, the very solid Esther McGregor (yes, Ewan McGregor’s daughter) seems destined to find her place in the long list of nepo babies talented.
But everything ultimately goes too well in Babygirlso much so that the real subject becomes increasingly abstract and/or insipid as the film progresses. When it comes to bodies and eroticism, Halina Reijn avoids taking the easy route. But paradoxically, everything else undergoes the same treatment as sex in Hollywood cinema: too fast, too simple, too easy, too rewarding.
Ass between two chairs, like the film, Nicole Kidman oscillates between moments of grace and his usual tics – notably in the way he places his voice and his body in the most talkative and explanatory scenes. It has already been much better managed than in Babygirlbut we cannot take one thing away from it: it is still a great career choice for one of the most active and interesting actresses today.
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