Babygirl, Starring Nicole Kidman, OmU,

Her provocative film BABYGIRL was controversial, but in the end Dutch director Halina Reijn and her leading actress were able to celebrate a well-deserved award at the Venice Film Festival. Nicole Kidman was honoured with the Coppa Volpi for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her physical role as successful, married businesswoman Romy, who embarks on a sado-masochistic affair with a much younger intern. Jury president Isabelle Huppert was certainly not entirely innocent here, as she is a fan of unusual female characters.

BABYGIRL is less a thriller than a journey of self-discovery into the world of one's own desires and needs and into the structures of power and subjugation. In this erotic game of cat and mouse, Nicole Kidman perfectly embodies the difficult balancing act between self-confidence and vulnerability. She was certainly able to utilise her experience from Kubrick's EYES WIDE SHUT to good effect. Her counterpart Samuel - a reunion with Harris Dickinson from Triangle of Sadness - also has to master this balancing act. Both protagonists master their tasks with aplomb. It is also refreshing that director Halina Reijn spices up her reverse me too story with a good dose of black humour. She borrows from the work of her mentor Paul Verhoeven (BASIC INSTINCT), with whom she worked on BLACK BOOK, among others, albeit with a female gaze.

It's short notice but please come and join us!
We will wait downstairs in the lobby until screening starts 21.h30

Yours

Marion