Nicole Kidman’s New Erotic Thriller “Babygirl” Takes Inspiration from Unanswered Fantasy in Stanley Kubrick’s “Eyes Wide Shut”
Nicole Kidman’s upcoming erotic thriller, “Babygirl”, takes inspiration from an unanswered fantasy in Stanley Kubrick’s divisive drama, “Eyes Wide Shut”. The film follows Kidman as a powerful CEO in New York City who embarks on a forbidden affair with an alluring, but significantly younger intern. Kidman leads the cast alongside Harris Dickinson, Antonio Banderas, and Sophie Wilde.
Written and directed by Halina Reijn, “Babygirl” explores themes of marriage and monogamy from a female perspective, imagining what would have happened if Kidman’s character in “Eyes Wide Shut”, Alice Harford, had acted on her fantasy. Reijn seeks to offer a counterpoint to the male-focused narrative of Kubrick’s film by focusing on the female perspective.
The film’s plot is centered around a CEO who risks everything when she embarks on a passionate and illicit affair with her much younger intern. The movie takes inspiration from the inciting incident in “Eyes Wide Shut”, where Alice confesses to her husband, Bill, that she once had a sexual fantasy where she considered abandoning her life to be with a naval officer she met while on vacation.
“Babygirl” aims to focus on the female perspective by imagining what the story might have looked like if Alice had actually pursued her fantasy. The film is set to release in theaters on December 25.