Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson steam up the screen in Babygirl, the new film from writer-director Halina Reijn. As part of preparation for the film, the Bodies Bodies Bodies director sent the two actors films that exemplify the best of Babygirl’s shared genre. According to Entertainment Weekly, Rejin recommended 2001’s The Piano Teacher, 1992’s Damage, and 1988’s Dangerous Liaisons to put the actors in the right headspace for production. Although Rejin set out to subvert erotic thriller expectations, it was important for the actors and filmmaker to intimately know the thing they’re supposed to be subverting. Hence, Halina Reijn turned to the classics.
According to Dickinson, the director wasn’t “interested” in showing straight-forward sex scenes, instead opting for “vulnerability” and “finding truth.”
“Halina was never interested in showing explicit sex scenes. Showing sex on film can often be so corny and unnecessarily voyeuristic. It’s more interesting to show the awkwardness of sex, or if you’re going to show nudity, then the vulnerability and how exposing that is. Being seen and finding truth together is more sexy than just getting your kit off and shooting a sex scene in the way that’s been done over and over.”
As study materials for making an erotic thriller, one would be hard-pressed – so to speak – to find better than Reijn’s film picks. The Piano Teacher, directed by Michael Haneke, (available to stream on MAX) explores the maddening effects of desire in the director’s brutal and arrestingly austere style. Louis Malle’s Damage (currently unavailable to stream) also explores the ruinous effects of something more than lust and less than love in the slow-motion car wreck of an illicit affair. Finally, Dangerous Liaisons (available to rent on Apple TV) chronicles the depraved acts of weak yet powerful aristocrats and the games of seduction that leave people as flotsam in their wake.
Babygirl Has Been Met With Critical Acclaim, Has a Rating of 90% on Rotten Tomatoes
Erotic thrillers had their heyday in the 90s, slipping out of vogue in the 2000s, likely due to the saxophone not being used in music and modern renovations getting rid of glass block walls. But the 2020s might be the era when this titillating genre makes a comeback. With movies like Love Lies Bleeding, Saltburn, and Benedetta kicking off the decade, audiences might be more open to explorations of power, desire, and sexuality in modern films.
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Babygirl’s Harris Dickinson Reveals the Cringey Request He’s Getting From Fans
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But like Rejin’s homework movies, Babygirl is less an exploration of sex and more an exploration of sexuality and characters, according to Dickinson :
“It’s about embarrassment, performative behavior, and trying things out with someone that you desire — and what that means in all of its ugliness…It goes beyond just sex. It’s also about behavior and love languages and all of that stuff. How does someone want to be treated? How do they respond best? There’s a release for both of them in this relationship. They find this sense of freedom within themselves.”
The film follows Romy played by Nicole Kidman, as she embarks on a complicated affair with a young intern, Samuel (Dickenson). Power and age gap dynamics abound as Romy dances around a minefield of controversy while learning about what she desires and what she’s capable of. Babygirl comes to theaters December 25th, 2024, and currently stands at an exciting 90% on Rotten Tomatoes.
- Release Date
- December 25, 2024
- Director
- Halina Reijn