“What if she would’ve gone and lived her fantasy?”
writer-director Halina Reijn asks of Kidman’s character in the Stanley Kubrick film.
Babygirlis a tale of sexual fantasy made real.
Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise in ‘Eyes Wide Shut’.Getty Images
The admission sends William spiraling, leading him down a dangerous road involving sex cults and murder.
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“It’s about marriage; it’s about monogamy,” she says about both films.
“What is monogamy and can you possess someone else or do you have to set them free?”
Nicole Kidman in ‘Babygirl’ and ‘Eyes Wide Shut’.A24; Warner Bros
“We don’t even know what [Alice is] going through.
We’re totally in his mind, heart, and soul.
I want to know, ‘What if she would’ve gone and actually would’ve lived her fantasy?’
Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson in ‘Babygirl’.Niko Tavernise/A24
“[Samuel gets] a fairy tale introduction.
A24; Warner Bros
Eyes Wide Shutalso helped Reijn cope with an unexpected schedule change.
She had planned to shootBabygirlduring the summer, but the double Hollywood strikes bumped production to the winter.
Antonio Banderas and Nicole Kidman in ‘Babygirl’.Courtesy of A24
“My movie was a summer movie and it all took place in the Hamptons,” she notes.
“But then the strike hit us and I had to reschedule it to Christmas.
I was very frustrated about it, to be honest with you, and very sad.
I thought white picket fence, the Hamptons,The Truman Show.
But then I rewatchedEyes Wide Shut,and I was like, ‘Oh, it can be done.
you might make a very beautiful, deep movie with Christmas songs, trees, and carols.'”
“Who is Hedda Gabler now?”
“In the end, it’s about a woman who destroys her life to be reborn.
My movie is my version ofHedda Gabler.Romy thinks she’s trapped in a marriage.
But in the end, she’s just trapped in herself, which is Hedda Gabler.
But in our movie, she chooses to live and she doesn’t kill herself.
I was so fed up with that.
We want to see a woman who liberates herself and actually continues living.”
“But at the most, you see two very short snippets of an actual sex act.
The rest is all suggestion.”
It was a choice largely predicated on Reijn’s own acting career.
“I was naked as an actress in every film, every play,” she explains.
“I was done.
We do show bodies, but it’s very elegant and graceful.
You almost see nothing.
It’s done in a way where that would hopefully connect to other women.
This is how women see sex.”
Indeed, Reijn thinks the sexiest, most provocative scene of all has nothing to do with naked bodies.
“They don’t even touch.
That, to me, is super arousing.
Because, for women, often it’s all about the story.
It’s about what is in our minds.
We don’t like two bodies just banging into each other.
That means nothing to us.
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“It’s not really about the specificity of what BDSM is,” Reijn explains.
“I always personally had these fantasies.
And when I went to therapy when I was young, it was still [considered] a disease.
It made me feel so alone.
That scares the s— out of me.
The moment we feel our own hunger, our own desire, we immediately feel shame.
We need to liberate ourselves.”
Babygirlhits theaters Christmas Day.
