Nicole Kidman is ‘bold,’ ‘brave’ and ‘immaculate’ in ‘Babygirl,’ according to critics at Venice Film Festival

“Babygirl” is the latest film to premiere at the Venice Film Festival and launch its star into the awards conversation. The erotic thriller by Dutch director Halina Reijn (who previously helmed the 2022 horror comedy “Bodies Bodies Bodies”) was unveiled on August 30. It stars Nicole Kidman as a CEO who has an affair with a much younger intern (Harris Dickinson), and the reviews from the fest so far have been excellent.

Based on the first 15 reviews counted on MetaCritic, the film has a rating of 82 out of 100, indicating “universal acclaim.” Almost all of those reviews (14 out of 15) are categorized as positive. One review is mixed, but none yet are outright negative. Over on Rotten Tomatoes, where reviews are classified as simply positive or negative, the film is rated 85% fresh based on its first 13 reviews, only two of which give the movie a poor assessment.

Robbie Collin (The Telegraph) calls the film “electrifying” and “a complete knockout.” Savina Petkova (The Film Stage) adds, “It’s not too early in the festival to say Reijn wrote and directed one of — if not the — most compelling films of this year’s Venice selection,” and Kidman fills her role with an “endless supply of yearning and appetite.”

Alexander Harrison (Screen Rant) says the film is “so confident and so fully formed that it also left me excited for it … Kidman and Dickinson are given parts that require layers of performance to be slipped on and off like clothes, and they inhabit them immaculately.” Nicholas Barber (BBC) agrees this is Kidman’s “bravest and best performance in quite some time,” while also praising the “shrewd” screenplay. Ryan Lattanzio (IndieWire) describes this as one of “[Kidman’s] top performances in a career built on risk-taking.”

Owen Gleiberman (Variety) thinks “Babygirl” transcends the erotic thriller genre: “The movie’s ambition isn’t just to feed the thriller engine. It’s to capture something genuine about women’s erotic experience in the age of control.” But Xan Brooks (Guardian), despite calling the film “expertly done” and Kidman’s performance “bold,” claims it’s “superficially pleased with itself, so thrilled by its own daring … The film’s thrills feel machine-tooled and vacuum-packed.”

But the reviews mostly suggest a sophisticated take on sexual desire and power dynamics, with Kidman giving a universally praised performance. Sexually provocative films and performances have been garnered awards nominations and wins before, including Oscar contenders Glenn Close in “Fatal Attraction” and Diane Lane in “Unfaithful,” as well as recent nominee Ana de Armas in the controversial “Blonde” and reigning Best Actress champ Emma Stone in “Poor Things.”

A24 will next bring the steamy film to the Toronto International Film Festival before releasing it in theaters on December 25. So it’ll be a heckuva Christmas.