Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.What has got into Nicole Kidman? Barely has she emerged from a lusty fling with Zac Efron in A Family Affair, than she beds an even younger man in the breathlessly panting Babygirl. Dutch writer-director Halina Reijn’s film is no giggling age-gap romcom, however — here the stakes are high (career, family, dignity) and danger is the primary stimulant. Yes, at the Venice Film Festival the erotic thriller is limbering up for another comeback, but this time the results are less fumbling than 2022’s soggy Deep Water or the doomed Fatal Attraction streaming remake.The first eyebrow may be raised at the name of the robotic automation company of which Kidman’s Romy is the briskly efficient boss: Tensile. Here she is firmly in control over herself and her underlings. Meanwhile at home she is showered with affection by loving hubby Jacob (Antonio Banderas) and their two teenage daughters. OK, there are signs of workaholism, phone addiction and a tendency to sneak out the marital bed to masturbate to “daddy” porn, but nothing beyond what half the population could confess to. That is until the arrival of Samuel (Harris Dickinson), a cocksure intern who matches her gaze with uncowed confidence and sends it back with kinky potential.As their trysts escalate, other movies in a similar mould come to mind. The playing of BDSM-lite games in an office setting harks back to 2002’s Secretary while a woman who is dominant in the workplace yet harbours submissive fantasies brings to mind Isabelle Huppert (this year’s Venice jury president) in the much darker Elle. Most glaring of all, Romy pursuing Samuel to a writhing techno club while wearing business attire is surely a knowing homage to Michael Douglas and his dance-floor sweater in Basic Instinct.Age is a major theme of Reijn’s script and not just because of the May-December gap. Characters constantly remind Romy of her advancing years, making her transgression even more an act of defiance. Kidman doesn’t hold back, bearing body and soul, and admirably pushing herself beyond most actors’ comfort zones while more than 40 years into her career. Even when she is surrendering to sex games, she still seems to command scenes. Still, Dickinson (Triangle of Sadness) holds his own as the stern-faced Samuel while Banderas gets a moment to shine, showing there is still a fire burning within Jacob beneath his teddy-bear exterior.Eventually the film comes to acknowledge the changes in male-female power dynamics in recent years, but Reijn wisely reins in the sermonising and leaves uncomfortable questions unanswered for us to ponder. Perhaps as a result, this is a contemporary film about sex that actually manages to be sexy as well as unsettling. Many of us wondered whether the erotic thriller was even still viable in the moral minefield of 2024. Babygirl proves that the form may have matured, but it still has some moves.★★★★☆Festival continues to September 7, labiennale.org
