Babygirl

Aound autumn of 1988 i was at a birthday party at the home of friends of my family known as The Robertsson Family. They lived in a pretty big house quite far above the city known as Uddevalla ( my hometown ) and we would spend time together many times, especially during certain weekends. The Robertsson Family had 3 children, André, Marcus and David. At the time i was 11 years old and while the adults sat downstairs, me and the other kids of the family watched movies on VHS. I remember Marcus running into his room getting a VHS tape of a film called 9 1/2 Weeks and this was supposed to be some kind of erotic film that Marcus have heard about. We watched the film but being as young as we were we only wanted to see the erotic scenes to be honest. So i remember Marcus trying to find certain scenes rewinding the VHS tape forwards and backwards and i honestly had no idea what the film was about. This was the very first time i witnessed certain scenes of 9 1/2 Weeks and i didn´t really remember anything else other than how hot actress Kim Basinger was. Fast forward to the year of 1992 and i noticed in the TV magazine that Swedish TV channel TV3 was showing 9 1/2 Weeks on a Saturday. Since i was a Mickey Rourke fan at this time ( especially for the action comedy Harley Davidsson And The Marlboro Man ) i had to record the film 9 1/2 Weeks and watch the film completely from start to finish. I remember thinking that it was alright for what it was, but still nowhere near as good as the Mickey Rourke classics Year Of The Dragon or Angel Heart with Robert De Niro. I have watched this film again a couple of years ago and i would pretty much say the same today, it´s ok but not much more. I think it was more shocking for that time period in the 80´s and we are so used to sexual content in modern cinema films so there are plenty of more erotic films to choose between. I personally think that when it comes to erotic films then i would definetely say the 1992 erotic thriller Basic Instinct worked much better than 9 1/2 Weeks, this film have a more powerful story and a great plot as well. And how can you aviod not mentioning how hot actress Sharon Stone is in this film? Another really good film from legendary director Paul Verhoeven and a film you should see. Last year there was quite a buzz on film festivals regarding actress Nicole Kidman´s erotic thriller Babygirl where some people were surprised over the sexual scenes especially. I enjoy a lot of Nicole Kidman´s films in the past ( especially Stanley Kubrick´s last film Eyes Wide Shut and the brilliant 2001 horror film The Others ) so of course i had to give this film a chance. Is Babygirl another proof of how brilliant Nicole Kidman really is as an actress or does this film not deliver as much as i was hoping for?

Romy Mathis ( Nicolee Kidman ), the CEO of a robotic process automation company in New York and she is very fustrated with her private sex life with her husband Jacob Mathis ( Antonio Banderas ), a theatre director. All the years they have been together she had to fake having orgasms and it turns out she have never experienced a real one with her husband. While on the way to work one day, she is almost mauled by a dog until a young man stops and calms it down. That young man, Samuel ( Harris Dickinson ) turns out to be an intern at Romy´s company and picks Romy as his "mentor" through the company´s mentorship program. As they spend more time together a wild sexual affair begins. Romy knows if this gets out in public it could destroy her life completely, but can she resist her wild urges?

I know some might say that Fifty Shades Of Grey were hot erotic films, and they might be for those who are not used to see something similar. I can tell you right now that Babygirl beats all of the Fifty Shades films when it comes to capturing the feeling of sexual power, being in control over someone and finding a sexual tone that matches the characters in certain dominant scenes. The most fascinating parts of Babygirl is where do we draw the line to what sexual needs we might need? Is it ok to cross certain boundaries just to please yourself or is this perhaps a sign that this can become more destructive than actually do something positive? There are several issues i feel this film manage to balance very professional, especially when it comes to the subject of sex and how important this might be for some people to be able to function in their lives. There is also the story of a very respected, successfull mother who seems to have it all, a beautuful family, a beautiful home, but still something is missing in her life? I love that this film uses songs from the 80´s such as INXS classic Never Tear Us Apart and the George Michael classic Father Figure, almost as if they wanted us to be reminded of erotic films of the 80´s while reminding us how magical the 80´s really was. I have to say that lead actress Nicole Kidman have no problem showing how incredible she is using both facial expressions, dialogue and body language in her powerful performance as the character Romy. Antonio Banderas as her husband Jacob is another perfect example of how he knows to express himself with his unique acting skills. The cinematography by Jasper Wolf ( who also did the cinematogaphy for the powerful Dutch drama film Instinct, worth checking out ) looks really good in this film. To the negative detail of this film i simply have to mention actor Harris Dickinson ( who you might have seen in the great wrestling drama film The Iron Claw ). He is not terrible by any means but compared to Nicole Kidman and Antonio Banderas in their scenes he have a long way to go until he can reach their level of acting. If it wasn´t for the less strong performance of Harris Dickinson i might have given this film a higher rating but this is still a solid film and worth a watch. Director Halina Reijn deliver a smooth erotic thriller drama that not only feels very sexual but looks great as well. Babygirl knows what audience it was made for and i am definetely a part of that audience.

Rating: DDD