Nicole Kidman is no stranger to roles that push boundaries, but her latest venture into the cinematic world say it’s her biggest role yet. In the upcoming thriller Babygirl, the Academy Award-winning actress dives into the complexities of power, desire, and identity as a woman at the peak of her career—and her sexuality.
Basically, Kidman is doing a movie that is one step up movies you have to go to certain type of store to get.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Kidman reflected on the empowering nature of playing Romy, a high-powered CEO and mother who engages in a torrid affair with her younger intern, Samuel, played by Harris Dickinson. “A lot of times women are discarded at a certain period of their career as a sexual being. So it was really beautiful to be seen in this way,” she shared. Her portrayal of Romy explores themes of self-discovery and desire in a way that Kidman believes will resonate with audiences. “From the minute I read it, I was like, ‘Yeah, this is a voice I haven’t seen, this is a place that I haven’t been.’”
So let’s get this straight.
Kidman isn’t playing a woman who is a married high-powered executive with children and has an affair with a 20-year-old intern.
This movie isn’t about her rekindling her marriage with her husband. It’s about a creepy executive who grooms an intern and uses her power to influence him.
I’m pretty sure we’ve been lectured for decades about how men do this, but now a movie about a woman doing it to a twenty-year-old guy is hailed as liberating.
What sets Babygirl apart, Kidman believes, is its refusal to conform to Hollywood’s typical portrayal of sexuality. The role required her to perform a range of intimate, emotional scenes, including different representations of o***sms claiming she did for authenticity. “I blush, still,” she admitted, but she credited the film’s female director, Halina Reijn, with creating an environment where these explorations felt natural and necessary.
Folks, imagine what would be said if a movie came out about a male CEO affair with a 20-year-old intern.
Do you think it would be called liberating?
The movie is set to be released on Christmas Day because nothing says family and celebrating the birth of savior like watching a movie about an executive ruin their home life to “explore” themselves.
