Babygirl (2024) Dir: Halina Reijn

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A24 has grown a reputation in the last few years for producing some truly excellent cinematic works, ranging in genre, budget, and scale. This 2024 erotic thriller, directed by Halina Reijn - the mind behind 'Bodies Bodies Bodies', is not one of those cinematic works. Prior to watching it, I had hoped to see something daring, sensual, maybe a little cheeky, but above all I wanted it to be interesting. The film was anything but that.

This was, without a doubt, one of the worst films I have seen in a long time. It looked and sounded so boring - criticism which even extends to the main protagonist's wardrobe, which really should have been an opportunity for variety and glamour. The soundtrack was so uninspired and corny, that even the scenes that had the potential to be steamy felt incredibly awkward and tonally bereft.

What really frustrated me, however, was how unashamedly lazy and performative the film was in its depictions of sexuality and sexual encounters. The film seemed to want so badly to be considered as liberating and refreshing, but it missed the point about so much of its thematic material, instead trying to force the audience to invest in a dull, repetitive, and extremely unsatisfying character dynamic, which is awfully ironic, considering the way the film panned out.

I cannot emphasise enough just how poor the writing of this film was. It was paced horribly, meaning that the film dragged significantly - it felt an hour longer than it actually was. Worse than that, though, was the quality of the narrative. This was the most delusional, wattpad-level, writing of a romance I've seen in a long time. Posing the story as if the main character finally being able to get off was the catalyst for her being a better mother and partner was laughable, and seemed only to encourage infidelity as a behaviour.

There was only one likable character in the entire film, and it was neither of the protagonists. Furthermore, said protagonists had no chemistry, no heat, and no spark between them, meaning that many of the scenes that were supposed to be sexy and teasing came across as painfully cringe and awkward. As an audience member, I did not buy their relationship for one second, and was embarrassed for the two actors involved.

Nicole Kidman has done so much better than this in her career, which is what made this performance all the more disappointing. It was like she was made of wood for half the film's runtime, and fractured glass the rest of it. It was so painful to watch. But even with all of that said, she was still one of the better performers in the film. I was really hoping that Kidman would prove to be this film's biggest strength, but she ended up being another weakness of it.

Her co-star; Harris Dickinson, was placed into the unwinnable position of having to try and be a sexy roadman and intern with no personality and the same shirt in almost every scene. It was depressing to watch. He had no charm to him, no charisma, and no appeal. It was truly bizarre seeing his character being portrayed as this mysterious and super attractive sexual savant.

The supporting cast only had two members worth mentioning, and that was with me being generous. The very talented Antonio Banderas tried so hard to make something of his one-note character, but could only do so much. He did at least look the part, I suppose, but it wasn't enough. I also thought I should mention Esther-Rose McGregor, who had a couple of fairly good scenes, but whose character was written absolutely horrendously.

Overall, I'm afraid to say that this film will forever be consigned to that unfortunate list of diabolically bad films that I hope never to have to sit through again. This was so poor and unsatisfactory in just about every way, I almost couldn't comprehend it. What a letdown. Watching a successful and attractive woman fall for such a mediocre and drab man was very disappointing. Her husband deserved better. What a terrible waste of time, both for the characters in the film, and those watching at home.