Film: “Babygirl” starring Nicole Kidman

Members of the C-suite: watch out for those interns. Twenty-five years ago, one led to the impeachment of a president. And in Halina Reijn’s entertaining new film, “Babygirl,” another does damage of a very different kind.

Romy (Nicole Kidman) is CEO of an innovative robotics company. She’s articulate, has a loving husband working in the arts (Antonio Banderas), two clever children, a slick city penthouse and a rustic weekend home. In short, Romy has everything an educated, powerful woman could want. But it turns out she needs something more: very naughty and slightly rough sex.

Enter Samuel (Harris Dickinson), a charming intern who’s half her age. She first encounters him outside her office building, as he miraculously stops a mad dog in mid-attack. Later, Romy later attends an intern orientation, where she meets Samuel again and they begin chatting. He soon senses what Romy needs: to be dominated.

Initially brushing him off (somewhat half-heartedly) as inappropriate, Romy soon succumbs to Samuel’s playful and increasingly erotic advances. Within weeks he has her crawling on all fours in shady hotel rooms and lapping milk out of a dish.

As expected, Kidman is perfectly cast as a woman of power who gets off by ceding her power to a horny young subordinate. “You must do anything I want,” Samuel tells her—apparently even if it means an exhausting routine of late-night hotel stays and dancing at clubs in the wee hours. All under the guise of “having to work late.”

Which brings me to the real revelation of the film: young Harris Dickinson. With the skill of a master magician, Samuel seduces Romy slowly but surely into a dom-sub relationship she is unable to resist. (Note: The scene where he dances shirtless and sensually to George Michael’s “Father Figure” before they have sex is a killer.)

The kinkiness turns into creepiness, however, when Samuel starts showing up at Romy’s home and at her kid’s birthday parties. Romy is shocked; this invasion of her private life is just not supposed to happen.

Should you see the film? Sure. Just be aware that “Babygirl” is a good-but-not-great, dreamily sexy-romantic but-not-9 1/2-Weeks-sexy tale of power, but with kinks. Show to go you: An intern in a blue suit can be just as dangerous as one in a blue dress.

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