With Babygirl releasing this week in the UK, viewers are finally able to see the Nicole Kidman movie that forced her to stop filming due to having ‘too many orgasms’.
The film has been highly acclaimed so far, receiving surprising awards buzz for Kidman’s performance, as well as a 77% score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Despite that, viewers in the UK are split.
Regardless of the quality of the film, which has voices on either side either calling it either the best thing ever or a massive disappointment, there is one particular aspect that has fans in total disagreement.
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That is, of course, whether it’s actually as horny and racy as the marketing has made it out to be.
For the last two months it feels like every time you turn around, there's a new headline about how Kidman couldn’t stop orgasming, that the director actually went through the ‘milk scene’ in real life, that Kidman and Harris Dickinson sometimes had unscripted intimate scene... long story short, the marketing has been non-stop.
This is, ultimately, a major aspect of the film – which presents the sexuality of women in their 50s in affirming faction and validates it in a way that many films don’t.
Some viewers, however, are feeling like they didn’t get what they were expecting going in.
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One fan tweeted of the film: “#Babygirl is helmed by great performances from Kidman, Dickinson and especially Banderas, with a beautiful score and cinematography.
“Unfortunately, the storyline moves at a slow pace which is not helped by an overly repetitive plot. It also wasn’t as sexy as I was hoping.”
Another controversial tweet called it a ‘great time to be a pervert’, referring amongst others to Nosferatu and Babygirl.
One film viewer said: "I’m sorry but Babygirl is about as perverted as pink fuzzy handcuffs," while another said: “Nothing about Babygirl is perverted #btw."
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Others, however, have been in total disagreement with this.
The film portrays Kidman in an age-gap BDSM heavy Dom-Sub relationship with a young intern at the company of which she is a CEO.
NME in their four star review, however, called the film a ‘sexed-up thriller’ that ‘makes 50 Shades Of Grey seem vanilla.
The review said: “[Writer and Director Halina] Reijn’s sharp, slippery Babygirl screenplay keeps us guessing about their power dynamic in a way that makes Fifty Shades Of Grey seem even more facile than it actually was.”
The Independent’s four star review also called the film ‘unabashedly, giddily sexy’, and praised Kidman’s performance.
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It’s not just critics either, with one review on Letterboxd simply saying: “the way my entire screening moaned and gasped when harris dickinson said the first ‘good girl’.”
If you want to decide for yourself, the film is out in the UK now.
Babygirl is in cinemas now.
Topics: Nicole Kidman, TV and Film, Film
Michael Slavin