Film reviews - Babygirl (Halina Reijn; 2024), A Real Pain (Jesse Eisenberg; 2024) and Maria (Pablo Larrain; 2024)

In Stanley Kubrick’s disgracefully under-appreciated Eyes Wide Shut, Nicole Kidman plays a character who reveals a sexual fantasy to her husband, prompting him to embark on a nocturnal odyssey that culminates in a masked orgy. Although she’s the one with the fantasy, it’s notable that she isn’t permitted to experience the odyssey. However, in Halina Reijn’s fascinating, discussion-provoking Babygirl, Kidman’s Romy Mathis, the successful CEO of a tech company, has both the fantasy and the opportunity to live it out.

Sex is a subject that’s high on her mind from the moment we meet her — a situation that’s not entirely surprising, given that she hasn’t had an orgasm with her husband (Antonio Banderas) for nearly two decades. On the face of it, everything else about their relationship couldn’t be more wonderful, but in the bedroom, satisfaction is decidedly one-sided. However, disruption appears in the form of Samuel (Harris Dickinson) — a confident young intern who instinctively works out that the way to turn Romy on is by taking charge and telling her exactly what she has to do.