Nicole Kidman to star in new-generation erotic thriller “Babygirl”

“Fatal Attraction”, “Basic Instinct”, “9 1/2 Weeks”, the erotic thriller genre was a hit in cinema in the 1980s and 1990s, but has aged in the wake of the #MeToo movement which has changed things, both in front of and behind the camera.

One of the most striking faces in Hollywood, Nicole Kidman, is making her debut in competition this Friday, August 30, in a classic genre, but one that has been shaken up in recent times by feminist struggles: the erotic thriller.

The actress ofEyes Wide Shut released in 1999 and Moulin Rouge in 2001 has never left the red carpets and continues to multiply filming, both in cinema and on television. But this Babygirl presented on the Lido and in which she plays the main role, is a project that particularly marked her, she confided to the magazine Vanity Fair.

Particularly for its explicit sex scenes, and for the relationship of trust that it was able to build with its little-known director, the Dutch Halina Reijn, 49, for whom this is only the third film and the first selection in a major festival.In my films, I have explored many themes through the prism of sexuality.” Nicole Kidman told the magazine.I didn’t dismiss it or try to pretend it didn’t exist.“.

But the film presented in Venice passes a milestone, and shooting it was “a very strange feeling. It’s something you normally do and reserve for your personal videos. It’s not meant to be seen by everyone!” she confided. In Babygirlthe 57-year-old Australian-American actress plays a businesswoman who is married to a theatre director. The latter will be played by Antonio Banderas, aged 64.

“Sexually unsatisfied in her relationship, she seeks comfort in a sado-masochistic relationship with a young intern, for which she risks her career and her family.“, described the director of the Mostra, Alberto Barbera, while presenting the film. The young man in question is played by Harris Dickinson, 28, discovered in the Palme d’Or No Filter.

Fatal Attraction, Basic Instinct, 9 and a half weeksthe genre was a hit in the 1980s and 1990s, but has aged in the wake of the #MeToo movement, which has changed things both in front of and behind the camera. The issue of the representation of sex in cinema has become a hot topic, often driven by female directors.

Erotic thriller stories began to diversify, following films like Portrait of a Lady on Fire on desire and the female gaze, just like filming practices, with the now systematic use in the United States of intimacy coordinators, on this film too.

Produced by A24, one of America’s most innovative independent studios (Everything Everywhere All At Once, Moonlightthe series Euphoria), Babygirl should continue this evolution. Nicole Kidman spoke about how working with a female director allowed her to create a closeness, while the filmmaker insisted on representing pleasure from a female point of view.

Last year, the Golden Lion was already awarded to Poor Creaturesshot by Yorgos Lanthimos but shaped almost by four hands with its actress Emma Stone, who exploded the constraints of Hollywood modesty by drawing the portrait of a woman mastering her pleasure. And the question is also at the heart of the remake of the classic of eroticism Emmanuellesigned by Audrey Diwan, which will open the San Sebastian Festival before its release in France on September 25.

In Venice, the day will also be marked by the arrival of the first of three French films in competition, the latest love story by Emmanuel Mouret (A kiss please, The things we say, the things we do). In the credits of this film, entitled Three friendsCamille Cottin, one of the French actresses who broke through in Hollywood, in the wake of the hit series Ten percent.