Babygirl review: the stakes are high but the orgasms seem worth it

Babygirl, starring Nicole Kidman, may open some frank conversations about female sexual desire.
Babygirl saw a modest taking at the box office this year. Image: A24.

It’s unfortunate that Nicole Kidman has become almost as famous for her strangely ageless face as for her considerable courage and acting talent when given a good role. It’s a relief then, to see her in the erotic thriller Babygirl, looking all of her 57 years, yet playing a character who undergoes injections and infrared saunas as part of her routine to maintain the undeniably beautiful façade.

There’s something out of whack here, even though he tells her he loves her. It’s not what she needs. She sneaks off to watch submissive porn on her laptop, finishing the job on her own. Her terrible secret is this: she’s never had an orgasm with Jacob in more than 20 years of marriage. But how could she admit that now?

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Rochelle Siemienowicz is a Melbourne writer and editor. Her first book Fallen, a memoir was published in 2014 and her second, Double Happiness, a novel, in 2024. She has a PhD in Australian cinema and was previously a journalist at ScreenHub and ArtsHub. ou can find her on Instagram: @Rochelle_Rochelle or at Substack where she writes a fortnightly newsletter, The Fool and the Queen.