Sightlines · reception
How Babygirl was received
2024 · Halina Reijn · Babygirl on Sightlines
The arc
It landed Christmas 2024 as A24's counter-programming event, with Nicole Kidman fresh off a Volpi Cup win at Venice — then the discourse split hard between 'the erotic thriller is back' and 'wait, this isn't even that erotic.' A year and a half on it's remembered less as a scandal than as the film that got everyone arguing about whether movies had forgotten how to be sexy.
What’s debated
The forever-debate: is it genuinely transgressive or just tastefully corporate kink — and was Kidman's Oscar snub after winning Venice a robbery?
Its footprint
The glass of milk became an instant meme — bars and brands riffed on it, 'good girl' entered the vocabulary — and Harris Dickinson's hotel-room dance to George Michael's 'Father Figure' was clipped, looped, and parodied endlessly.
Where it stands
A Letterboxd discourse-magnet more than a settled classic — the film everyone had a one-liner review of, and the moment Harris Dickinson became the internet's babygirl.
Did you know? Kidman won Best Actress at Venice 2024 for the role but wasn't there to accept it — her mother died that same weekend, and director Halina Reijn read her statement from the stage.
Named by the director
- 9½ Weeks (1986) — Reijn has said seeing it made her 'feel less alone' in her dark fantasies, and calls Babygirl her answer to it.
- Fatal Attraction (1987) — One of the late-'80s erotic thrillers Reijn cites rewatching while shaping the film.
- Basic Instinct (1992) — Reijn names it among the '90s thrillers she was writing back to from a female gaze.
- Secretary (2002) — Cited by Reijn as a touchstone for power-exchange romance done from the inside.
- The Piano Teacher (2001) — Reijn has named Haneke's film as an influence on Babygirl's portrait of hidden desire.
- Paul Verhoeven — Her Black Book director and declared master of the genre — she cites his thrillers (including Elle) and his advice to build a film around a question you can't answer.