Review: 'Babygirl' gives Nicole Kidman, as a CEO in a fiery sexual relationship with an intern, a chance to seductively subvert the male gaze

In “Babygirl,” writer-director Halina Reijn teases the audience with sex and danger, in order to get us on board with her true mission — to get us thinking about pursuit of female desire and the consequences of fulfillment

Nicole Kidman stars here as Romy, a hard-driven and charismatic CEO of a tech company. (They make robotic package-delivery systems, but that’s neither here nor there.) She’s confident and in charge, and a hero to her assistant, Esme (Sophia Wilde). She’s also married to Jacob (Antonio Banderas), a theater director, and they have two teen daughters, Isabel (Esther McGregor) and Nora (Vaughan Reilly). What more could someone want?

Reijn answers that question at the outset, with what appears to be volcanic sex between Romy and Jacob. When it’s over, though, Romy slips into her home office and masturbates to porn because she didn’t have a genuine orgasm with her husband.

So when Romy meets the interns just arrived at the company, one tall young man catches her eye. That’s Samuel (Harris Dickinson), who applies online for the company’s mentorship plan and requests Romy — even though Romy thought she wasn’t one of the available mentors. In their first meeting, Samuel says something inappropriate: “I think you like to be told what to do.” This opens a door for a game of shifting power dynamics, and a scorching love affair in various hotel rooms where Romy sometimes finds herself crawling on all fours at Samuel’s insistence.

Who’s running the show? Is it Romy, the boss who’s usually in command of every situation? Or is it Samuel, who seems to know what Romy wants better than she does — and could, with one call, cause Romy’s corporate and personal lives to crumble?

In truth, Reijn is in charge here. She stages sex scenes between Kidman and Dickinson, and Kidman and Banderas, that are inventive, tension-filled and hot as blazes. They provide more than titillation, but show who’s in control and how quickly that can shift between two people. Above all, the sexuality shown here demonstrates what it’s like when a female director applies her sensibilities, shutting out the male gaze and concentrating on what the woman in the situation wants. (Men like me are so conditioned to expect the male gaze that it’s refreshing, if not a bit intimidating, when it’s gone.)

Kidman is game for this, and gives a performance that capitalizes on her brittle beauty and lets her show something more vulnerable underneath. Dickinson keeps up with Kidman all the way, in the bedroom and the boardroom, as the gamesmanship threatens to destroy Romy’s well-ordered life — while also showing her what’s most important. “Babygirl” is at its best when Kidman and Dickinson are locked in this battle of wills, each grabbing for the controls to keep it all from crashing around them.

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‘Babygirl’

★★★1/2

Opens Wednesday, December 25, in theaters. Rated R for strong sexual content, nudity and language. Running time: 114 minutes.