Movie Review: Nicole Kidman commands the erotic office drama 'Babygirl'

The demands of achieving both one-day shipping and a satisfying orgasm collide in Halina Reijn’s “Babygirl,” a kinky and darkly comic erotic thriller about sex in the Amazon era.

Nicole Kidman stars as Romy Mathis, the chief executive of Tensile, a robotics business that pioneered automotive warehouses. In the movie’s opening credits, a maze of conveyor belts and bots shuttle boxes this way and that without a human in sight.

Romy, too, is a little robotic. She intensely presides over the company. Her eyes are glued to her phone. She gets Botox injections, practices corporate-speak presentations (“Look up, smile and never show your weakness”) and maintains a floor-through New York apartment, along with a mansion in the suburbs that she shares with her theater-director husband ( Antonio Banderas ) and two teenage daughters (Esther McGregor and Vaughan Reilly).

But the veneer of control is only that in “Babygirl,” a sometimes campy, frequently entertaining modern update to the erotically charged movies of the 1990s, like “Basic Instinct” and “9 ½ Weeks.” Reijn, the Danish director of “Bodies Bodies Bodies” has critically made her film from a more female point of view, resulting in ever-shifting gender and power dynamics that make “Babygirl” seldom predictable — even if the film is never quite as daring as it seems to thinks it is.

The opening moments of “Babygirl,” which A24 releases Wednesday, are of Kidman in close-up and apparent climax. But moments after she and her husband finish and say “I love you,” she retreats down the hall to writhe on the floor while watching cheap, transgressive internet pornography. The breathy soundtrack, by the composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer, heaves and puffs along with the film's main character.

One day while walking into the office, Romy is taken by a scene on the street. A violent dog gets loose but a young man, with remarkable calmness, calls to the dog and settles it. She seems infatuated. The young man turns out to be Samuel (Harris Dickinson), one of the interns just starting at Tensile. When they meet inside the building, his manner with her is disarmingly frank. Samuel arranges for a brief meeting with Romy, during which he tells her, point blank, “I think you like to be told what to do.” She doesn't disagree.

Some of the same dynamic seen on the sidewalk, of animalistic urges and submission to them, ensues between Samuel and Romy. A great deal of the pleasure in “Babygirl” comes in watching Kidman, who so indelibly depicted uncompromised female desire in Stanley Kubrick’s “Eyes Wide Shut,” again wade into the mysteries of sexual hunger.

“Babygirl,” which Reijn also wrote, is sometimes a bit much. (In one scene, Samuel feeds Romy saucers of milk while George Michael’s “Father Figure” blares.) But its two lead actors are never anything but completely magnetic. Kidman deftly portrays Romy as a woman falling helplessly into an affair; she both knows what she’s doing and doesn’t.

Dickinson exudes a disarming intensity; his chemistry with Kidman, despite their quickly forgotten age gap, is visceral. As their affair evolves, Samuel’s sense of control expands and he begins to threaten a call to HR. That he could destroy her doesn’t necessarily make Romy any less interested in seeing him, though there are some delicious post-#MeToo ironies in their clandestine CEO-intern relationship. Also in the mix is Romy’s executive assistant, Esme (Sophie Wilde, also very good), who's eager for her own promotion.

Where “Babygirl” heads from here, I won’t say. But the movie is less interested in workplace politics than it is in acknowledging authentic desires, even if they’re a little ludicrous. There’s genuine tenderness in their meetings, no matter the games that are played. Late in the film, Samuel describes it as “two children playing.”

As a kind of erotic parable of control, “Babygirl” is also, either fittingly or ironically, shot in the very New York headquarters of its distributor, A24. For a studio that’s sometimes been accused of having a “house style,” here’s a movie that goes one step further by literally moving in.

What about that automation stuff earlier? Well, our collective submission to digital overloads might have been a compelling jumping-off point for the film, but along the way, not every thread gets unraveled in the easily distracted “Babygirl.” Saucers of milk will do that.

“Babygirl,” an A24 release, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for “strong sexual content, nudity and language.” Running time: 114 minutes. Three stars out of four.

This image released by A24 shows Nicole Kidman in a scene from "Babygirl." (Niko Tavernise/A24 via AP)

This image released by A24 shows director Halina Reijn, left, and Nicole Kidman on the set of "Babygirl." (A24 via AP)

This image released by A24 shows Nicole Kidman, left, and Harris Dickinson in a scene from "Babygirl." (A24 via AP)

This image released by A24 shows Antonio Banderas, left, and Nicole Kidman in a scene from "Babygirl." (Niko Tavernise/A24 via AP)

This image released by A24 shows Harris Dickinson in a scene from "Babygirl." (Niko Tavernise/A24 via AP)

This image released by A24 shows Nicole Kidman in a scene from "Babygirl." (Niko Tavernise/A24 via AP)

This image released by A24 shows Nicole Kidman, left, and Harris Dickinson in a scene from "Babygirl." (A24 via AP)

This image released by A24 shows Nicole Kidman, left, and Harris Dickinson in a scene from "Babygirl." (Niko Tavernise/A24 via AP)

HONG KONG (AP) — Asian markets were mostly higher on Tuesday, with Chinese markets logging gains of more than 1% after the Chinese finance minister promised a more pro-active approach to government spending in the coming year.

U.S. futures were little changed in quiet Christmas Eve trading and oil prices rose.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 slipped 0.3% to 39,036.85.

Honda’s shares surged more than 12.2% as the Japanese automaker announced an up to 1.1 trillion yen ($7 billion) share buyback after it announced Monday that it was seeking a merger with its larger but troubled rival Nissan.

The two companies said they had signed a memorandum of understanding on Monday and that smaller Nissan alliance member Mitsubishi Motors Corp. also had agreed to join the talks on integrating their businesses. Nissan's shares rose 6%.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong added 1.1% to 20,098.29 and the Shanghai Composite index was up 1.3% at 3,393.53.

Chinese Finance Minister Lan Fo'an told a financial work conference that Beijing will increase the fiscal deficit in 2025 and step up spending, issuing more government bonds and increasing transfers to local governments to help ensure they can deliver guarantees to the public for housing, heating and food, according to the ministry's website.

The comments were the latest by top leaders aimed at assuaging concern over the slowing growth of the world's second-largest economy.

South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.1% to 2,440.52 as a report said consumer sentiment dropped sharply in December after President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law and then was impeached by lawmakers.

Elsewhere in Asia, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.2% to 8,220.90.

Taiwan’s Taiex gained 0.1%, with shares in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world's biggest computer chip maker, hitting a record high.

On Monday, the S&P 500 ended 0.7% higher at 5,974.07. The Dow Jones Industrial Average eked out a 0.2% gain to 42,906.95. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite rose 1% to 19,764.89.

The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index fell to 104.7 from 112.8 in November. Wall Street had been expecting a reading of 113.8.

The unexpectedly weak consumer confidence update followed several generally strong economic reports last week. One report showed the overall economy grew at a 3.1% annualized rate during the summer, faster than what was thought earlier. The latest report on unemployment benefit applications showed the job market remains solid.

Inflation concerns have added to uncertainties heading into 2025, which include the jobs market and shifting economic policies under President-elect Donald Trump.

Wall Street has several economic reports to look forward to this week, including a weekly update on unemployment benefits on Thursday.

Markets in the U.S. will close at 1 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday for Christmas Eve and will remain closed on Wednesday for Christmas.

In other dealings early Tuesday, U.S. benchmark crude oil picked up 37 cents to $69.61 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, was up 41 cents at $72.73.

The dollar fell to 157.05 Japanese yen from 157.17 yen. The euro fell to $1.0394 from $1.0405.

A currency trader reads documents at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders watch monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders watch monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

FILE - Signs mark the intersection of Wall and South Streets in New York's Financial District on Nov. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)