As everyone knows, nothing says Christmas like coziness, joyful holiday carols, family all together, and kinky BDSM sex with your younger employee.
So it’s set to be a, um, traditional (?) holiday season when the raunchy, electrifying new Nicole Kidman starrer Babygirl hits theaters Dec. 25. (There’s never been a better excuse to miss Christmas lunch.)
The film earned exhilarated raves when it premiered earlier this summer at the Venice Film Festival, with audiences giddily scandalized by how far it goes and how ballsy, captivating, and, as is her way, still incredibly human Kidman’s performance is. To wit, she took home the festival’s Best Actress prize.
Now those of us plebeians who weren’t cruising the canals of Italy in a gondola in pursuit of cinema can see what all the fuss is about.
The first trailer was released Tuesday. It shows Kidman as a high-powered CEO and mother who is clearly on edge from the pressure of her life. We first see her skittish after narrowly avoiding being charged at by a dog on a sidewalk, thanks to a handsome young stranger (Harris Dickinson) who distracts the mutt.
Imagine her surprise when the sidewalk savior shows up at her office as her company’s new intern and, as fate would have it, assigned to her as a mentee in the company’s new mentorship program. His brash provocation—“I think you need to be told what to do”—at first offends, then titillates her. They then begin a sexual affair in which she indulges in all of her fantasies about being dominated and controlled, as they clumsily—and, occasionally, hilariously—explore physical power dynamics.
“[The film’s] real radicalism comes in its bracingly honest approach to sex, power, and discovering what makes you tick,” critic Barry Levitt wrote in Obsessed’s review from Venice. “This is an exploration of uncomfortable truths about relationships, the boundaries within them, and how they can shift throughout your lifetime.”
The film, written and directed by Bodies Bodies Bodies’ Halina Reijn, hits theaters on Christmas Day. Happy holidays.
