The Unsettling and Sensual World of Babygirl (2024): Film Review

Babygirl (2024), an erotic suspense thriller that focuses far too much on the erotica and forgets to unpack the thrilling elements of the story. This feature delves into themes of female desire, shame, personal growth and sexuality. All of these themes are worthy to be explored in cinema, female desire is often a subject ignored by cinema and undermined but this film attempted at empowering the idea that women have needs too. Sadly though, from the outside the film promised a lot more, I was expecting a gripping suspense thriller entangled with lust and sexuality but instead was met with little to no thrill. 

I’ll start by saying Babygirl (2024) had some truly enticing elements, from the performances and the soundtrack I was genuinely intrigued and kept longing for more. The core problem with this film was the lack of story, the lack of development and the lack of consequence. Although the characters actions had high stakes, the potential for their lives and careers to be ripped away from them it still felt like childs play - it was easy and they both got away with it scot free.  

I wanted to know more about the characters, specifically Romy. As the lead character she had practically no substance and was just a shell of a character. We were given little insights into her past but nothing to add connection, she mentions growing up in a cult but the subject was never explored further. 

Babygirl (2024) begins as a playful game of cat and mouse but quickly develops into a high risk, animalistic affair. The anticipation of will they won’t they was shattered almost instantly, subsequently destroying any feelings of suspense of tension. 

Arguably, the timeline represented the instant attraction and need for one another but on the other, it didn’t give characters within the film enough time to process and question of realisation of events. Even as more characters started to recognise the affair, nothing changed. 

Nicole Kidman gives herself to this role, both physically and mentally. In this role she is unrecognisable, I have never seen her act this vulnerable in a feature and I was taken by her performance. Regardless of my thoughts on the film and its missteps, Kidman was unforgettable and gave a liberating and one of a kind performance. 

Harris Dickenson is becoming an established actor, his performances in Triangle of Sadness and The Iron Claw have proven his talents and this film is no different. He gave an eerily enigmatic performance, I couldn’t trust his character and I enjoyed watching him manipulate and use Kidman’s character. He held his own alongside her and the pair worked well together. 

Overall, I felt underwhelmed by this film. Some positive moments that stuck in my mind were the overwhelming club scene, which encompassed the engrossing affair and its hold on Romy along with the brilliant soundtrack that accompanied the scenes and performances. I was disappointed by the pacing of the film and the overall lack of suspense and thrill, the affair itself was risky but nothing seemed to happen by the end - the outcome was fairly predictable. Essentially, Babygirl (2024) lacked the suspense we were promised but it did deliver on erotism. 

3/5 Probe Points