This review was originally published on August 30, 2024, as a part of our Venice Film Festival coverage.

It's easy to be excited by a thriller, especially an erotic one. The genre is designed to elicit that response in us. But with Babygirl, writer-director Halina Reijn has delivered an erotic thriller so confident and so fully formed that it also left me excited for it. I can't wait to see this movie released in the world. It feels calibrated exactly right to its time.

It's undoubtedly a discourse grenade – or, rather, a pathogen. Babygirl sees Romy (Nicole Kidman), a high-powered CEO who is sexually dissatisfied with her otherwise happy marriage, begin an affair with Samuel (Harris Dickinson), one of her new interns. This very premise pushes a number of the buttons du jour: sex scenes in movies; age-gap relationships; workplace affairs between bosses and subordinates. But Reijn doesn't just explore these issues, she invokes the discussion around them to manipulate our expectations. And thrillers are all about manipulating expectations.

Babygirl Is So Much More Than An Erotic Thriller

But genre is also just a tool at Babygirl's disposal, and calling it an erotic thriller is only a partial truth. It's also a relationship comedy, a workplace drama, and a late-stage coming-of-age story. Each of these comes with a general shape, and we're always aware of the "roles" each character occupies. But these don't have hard borders, and they often bleed into each other.

Each of these dynamics comes with different levers of power, and part of the fun of Babygirl is never knowing which one they'll pull.

Romy wants to be dominated by Samuel, but when he gives her an order, sometimes the CEO responds. Sometimes the vulnerable woman does. Sometimes, usually when she brings up his age, she feels protective over him in a way that's (for Samuel) uncomfortably maternal. Each of these dynamics comes with different levers of power, and part of the fun of Babygirl is never knowing which one they'll pull.

Babygirl Is A Meal For Nicole Kidman & Harris Dickinson

And they take full advantage

Narratively, this keeps us on our toes. It can be hard to feel out what will happen next without a fixed understanding of how to view these characters. Thematically, it brings this movie surprisingly close to real life. Any two people in any kind of relationship aren't limited to one role, nor can they truly be compartmentalized. Babygirl's characters are just as unable to keep things clear-cut as any person in their situation would be.

I found this brilliant, in conception and execution. Despite its clear genre packaging, Babygirl is essentially character-driven, its shape determined by whoever each character chooses to behave as at any given moment. It forces us to really pay attention to these people and look beyond their easily digestible packaging. We are submerged in the moral murk Romy finds herself in, where our judgment is not so easily rendered, and forced to find our own way through. But the film itself remains remarkably clear-eyed about the complexity on display.

This also makes a fantastic platform for great acting. Kidman and Dickinson are given parts that require layers of performance to be slipped on and off like clothes, and they inhabit them immaculately. Romy is defined by inner conflict, all of which is legible in Kidman. Traces of these emotions ripple across her surface as she does her best to conceal them. Samuel is also shifting, but in a different way. It's his calm, self-possessed physicality that draws Romy to him, and how that develops over time is fascinating to watch.

Truly, all of Babygirl is fascinating to watch. There's such clear perspective in the filmmaking, and even though I've dwelt on Reijn's more thoughtful touches, the defining trait for many might be a wicked sense of humor. Laughter came easy and often for me and the audience I saw it with – sometimes with the characters, sometimes at them, but always with the movie. It's as if we're being reminded that, however serious the themes, this is supposed to be fun. And it is. But be prepared to find yourself grappling with a whole lot more.

Babygirl had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival and is now playing in theaters. The film is 114 minutes long and rated R for strong sexual content, nudity and language.