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Babygirl
Despite an eye-opening performance by Oscar winner Nicole Kidman in the starring role, 2024's Babygirl doesn't really succeed in its attempt at being a 21st century Fatal Attraction due to leaden direction and a confusing screenplay sending all kinds of mixed messages.
Kidman plays Romy, the CEO of a state of the art shipping company a la Amazon Prime, who is married to a theater director (Antonio Banderas) and the mother of two daughters, who finds herself drifting into an unconventional affair with one her company's new interns.
Director/screenwriter Halina Reijn has offered us an overly complex rending of a very simple story that takes way too long to get where it's going, keeping the viewer on the outside looking in. The story takes way too obvious a route in establishing how unhappy Romy is with her marriage in order to make it easy for us to accept why Romy is drawn to this guy. the attraction between Romy and this guy feels forced and unnatural and it's not helped by the fact that this guy wants to play by his rules. I mentioned Fatal Attraction but the relationship between Romy and this guy reminds me more of Mickey Roarke and Kim Basinger in 9 1/2 Weeks .
There's something really annoying about the way the story establishes that Romy is looking for a little something more in her sex life and when it comes to her, the guy spends a lot of time pushing her way. Watch the superb scene of their first kiss or the first time she gives herself to him sexually and he just pushes her away. Maybe because of the "Me Too" era we live in today, it was uncomfortable watching a man treating a woman like this and don't get me started on what happens when the guy shows up at her house.
Reign's static direction makes the film seem a lot longer than it really is and audience attention is definitely challenged. The glamorously aging Banderas makes the most of his thankless role as the husband and, as pretty as he is, Harris Dickinson (Triangle of Sadness), doesn't bring a lot of heat to the intern either. Kidman got some Oscar buzz for this performance and she is great, but the movie, not so much.
Despite an eye-opening performance by Oscar winner Nicole Kidman in the starring role, 2024's Babygirl doesn't really succeed in its attempt at being a 21st century Fatal Attraction due to leaden direction and a confusing screenplay sending all kinds of mixed messages.
Kidman plays Romy, the CEO of a state of the art shipping company a la Amazon Prime, who is married to a theater director (Antonio Banderas) and the mother of two daughters, who finds herself drifting into an unconventional affair with one her company's new interns.
Director/screenwriter Halina Reijn has offered us an overly complex rending of a very simple story that takes way too long to get where it's going, keeping the viewer on the outside looking in. The story takes way too obvious a route in establishing how unhappy Romy is with her marriage in order to make it easy for us to accept why Romy is drawn to this guy. the attraction between Romy and this guy feels forced and unnatural and it's not helped by the fact that this guy wants to play by his rules. I mentioned Fatal Attraction but the relationship between Romy and this guy reminds me more of Mickey Roarke and Kim Basinger in 9 1/2 Weeks .
There's something really annoying about the way the story establishes that Romy is looking for a little something more in her sex life and when it comes to her, the guy spends a lot of time pushing her way. Watch the superb scene of their first kiss or the first time she gives herself to him sexually and he just pushes her away. Maybe because of the "Me Too" era we live in today, it was uncomfortable watching a man treating a woman like this and don't get me started on what happens when the guy shows up at her house.
Reign's static direction makes the film seem a lot longer than it really is and audience attention is definitely challenged. The glamorously aging Banderas makes the most of his thankless role as the husband and, as pretty as he is, Harris Dickinson (Triangle of Sadness), doesn't bring a lot of heat to the intern either. Kidman got some Oscar buzz for this performance and she is great, but the movie, not so much.