Babygirl

Nicole Kidman gives one of the most daring performances of her career as Romy, a high-powered CEO of a robotics company in New York City. She has a beautiful home, a devoted husband played by Antonio Banderas, two children, and a corner office. Yet something vital is missing. When a charismatic young intern named Samuel, played by Harris Dickinson, enters her world, he sees through her polished exterior instantly. He initiates a bold game of cat and mouse that Romy finds both terrifying and irresistible.

Director Halina Reijn, making her English-language debut, updates the erotic thriller for a post-#MeToo era. She draws from 1990s touchstones like Fatal Attraction and Basic Instinct but shifts the perspective entirely. This is not a cautionary tale about a woman who steps out of line. It is a nuanced exploration of female desire, power dynamics, and the lies we tell ourselves to maintain a perfect life. The film never judges its characters, letting their messy, contradictory humanity speak for itself.

Shot primarily in New York City with additional work in the Netherlands, the film cost $20 million and grossed over $60 million worldwide. A24 produced it alongside 2AM and Man Up Film. The score comes from Cristóbal Tapia de Veer, known for The White Lotus, and his tense electronic-orchestral blend mirrors Romy's internal conflict perfectly. Critics praised Kidman's bravery and the film's refusal to offer easy answers, though audiences were more divided, giving it a 52% on Rotten Tomatoes against a 79% critic score.[edit]

Romy has built an empire. She runs a successful robotics company, commands boardrooms with ease, and appears to have the perfect family life with her husband Jacob and their two daughters. But behind closed doors, she feels a growing emptiness that her stable, comfortable marriage cannot touch. She loves Jacob, but their sex life has become routine, a choreographed performance rather than a genuine connection.

Enter Samuel. He is in his twenties, confident in a way that borders on arrogant, and he has just started an internship at Romy's company. From their first meeting, he locks eyes with her a beat too long. He is not intimidated by her power. If anything, he seems drawn to it. He sends her messages that are just ambiguous enough to be professional, just bold enough to be flirtatious. Romy tells herself to ignore it. She is the CEO. He is an intern. The risks are enormous: her marriage, her reputation, her career, the age gap that would invite judgment from everyone around her.

But Samuel has seen something in her that no one else has. He senses her hidden desires, the part of herself she has buried under years of responsibility and performance. He pushes boundaries deliberately, testing to see how far she will let him go. Romy resists at first, but her own suppressed needs prove overwhelming. She enters into a secret affair with him, one that quickly moves beyond flirtation into intensely erotic territory. Samuel takes a dominant role, guiding Romy into a world of kink and taboo exploration that both liberates and terrifies her.

As the affair deepens, Romy becomes increasingly reckless. She lies to Jacob, sneaks away from family dinners, takes dangerous chances at work. Her relationship with Samuel evolves beyond simple physical gratification. They develop a genuine, complicated emotional connection. He challenges her intellectually, forcing her to confront who she really is and what she truly wants. He is not just a younger man satisfying a midlife crisis. He is a mirror reflecting the parts of herself she has refused to see.

The story builds tension through several key beats. Romy almost gets caught by her husband. She tries to break off the affair but keeps getting drawn back. Her colleague Esme, played by Sophie Wilde, grows suspicious. Meanwhile, Romy's daughter Isabel, played by Esther-Rose McGregor, is navigating her own coming-of-age, creating a parallel about female desire and self-discovery across generations. The central question is not simply whether Romy will get caught. It is who she becomes when she stops performing the roles of CEO, wife, and mother.[edit]