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Kidman plays a CEO who has an affair with a young intern
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The film depicts a woman caught in an existential crisis
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Dutch director incorporates female perspective into erotic drama
By Crispian Balmer
VENICE (AP) — Nicole Kidman brought her erotic drama “Babygirl” to the Venice Film Festival on Friday and said she felt both exposed and nervous when the controlled intimacy of the set was projected onto the big screen for a global audience.
Kidman has made a number of risky films during her career, including Stanley Kubrick’s “Eyes Wide Shut,” which premiered in Venice 25 years ago. But she told reporters she was deeply concerned about the response to her latest film.
Kidman plays Romy, a successful New York CEO who jeopardizes both her career and family when she begins an affair with a young, opportunistic intern.
“Making it here with these people was a delicate and intimate and very intense experience,” said Kidman, who sat down with director Helena Reijn and co-stars Antonio Banderas (who plays her husband) and Harris Dickinson (who plays her lover).
“But it definitely makes me insecure and scared … when it’s put out into the world,” she added. “We’re all a little nervous, so I was thinking, I hope my hands aren’t shaking.”
Directed by a female director, “Babygirl” brings a woman’s perspective to the erotic thriller genre, exploring Romi’s deepest fantasies that she is unable to fulfill within the confines of her successful marriage.
“I’m so happy to be able to make a movie about female desire, but it’s also a movie about a woman in an existential crisis, and there are so many layers to that,” said Reason, whose previous films include the 2022 comedy horror “Bodies Bodies Bodies.”
“Babygirl” highlights the deep differences in attitudes toward sex between younger and older generations in a city where political correctness prevails.
“I think there’s generally a lot of confusion about how to behave during sex,” Dickinson said, praising the work of the intimacy coordinator who helped the actors push beyond their natural limitations.
“It’s always stressful to create any scene, so when you add some intimacy to it it becomes very sensitive,” he said.
Setting the backdrop for the film, “Babygirl” opens with a closeup of Kidman failing to achieve orgasm with her husband, and turning to seek satisfaction elsewhere.
“The huge orgasm gap … still exists, folks. Pay attention, men,” Reason said with a laugh, adding that he hopes his film “serves as a tribute to self-love and liberation.”
Kidman, who won a best actress Oscar in 2002 for her role as Virginia Woolf in “The Hours,” has worked with many of the leading male directors of her generation, but said she decided a few years ago to promote female filmmakers like Reason.
“I would now support a lot more women as directors, to try and change the ratio,” she said.
Six of the 21 films in the main competition at Venice were directed by women, including “Babygirl.” Last year, five of the 23 films in competition were directed by female directors.
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