TMW #17: Babygirl, Maria and The Girl with the Needle reviewed
The week's biggest cinema and streaming titles reviewed, plus recommendations, Trailer Club and more
Happy Friday film lovers,
And welcome to your bi-weekly Wingman. As it’s Friday we’re casting a critical gaze over the latest releases, including Kidman/Dickinson erotic thriller Babygirl, operatic biopic Maria and Danish drama The Girl with the Needle – there’s something for everyone! Well, leave any impressionable sprouts at home this week, unless they’re Maria Callas fans, of course.
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We’ll be back on Tuesday with more movie musings. Until then, let us know what you’re seeing this weekend in the comments below or join us over at the box-fresh Wingman chat. And as ever, thanks for your support.
Jordan (Matt and Matthew)
Reviews
Babygirl
18, in cinemas now
⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
Halina Reijn’s erotic drama wastes no time getting down to, um, business: the opening procession of company logos is accompanied by the sounds of a couple enjoying an energetic night in. The participants are high-flying ecommerce CEO Romy (Nicole Kidman) and her husband, theatre director Jacob (Antonio Banderas). A good time is seemingly had by all, but after the deed is done, Romy slips away to another room for some furtive - and more genuinely satisfying - fun with her laptop…
It’s an intriguing, attention-seizing opener that neatly sets out Babygirl’s thematic stall: subterfuge, secret desires and shagging. Reijn (Bodies Bodies Bodies) turns up the dial on all of the aforementioned when Romy meets impertinent intern Samuel (Harris Dickinson), who rapidly tunes into his new boss’ feelings of frustration. Before you can cry “HR!”, they’re getting to know each other better in a hotel room.
The pair enter into a sub (her) / dom (him) arrangement. Both parties hint they have the power to ruin each other’s lives and careers; before long, Samuel is crossing lines by casually turning up at Romy, Jacob and their teenage kids’ country retreat.
Yes, Babygirl sounds like something we’ve seen before - something we saw several times, in fact, in the 80s/90s/00s, when torrid tales of middle-class obsession were a big box-office draw. But despite its echoes of everything from 9½ Weeks to Disclosure to Unfaithful, Reijn’s film refreshingly rocks a more modern, less moralistic sensibility. It also swerves sensationalist cliche. In one scene, for instance, an inevitable showdown starts to flare only for the writer/director to pull the rug by cutting to the hilariously bathetic aftermath.
There’s humour throughout, from the sly send-ups of corporate culture to the flirty, flinty banter between Kidman and Dickinson. Both leads thoroughly commit; and while Dickinson serves up the most memorable male dance since Barry Keoghan’s ‘Murder on the Dancefloor’ jiggle in Saltburn (here the killer needle-drop is George Michael’s ‘Father Figure’), this is clearly Kidman’s film. Aloof, vulnerable, conflicted, liberated… the star runs the gamut in riveting, risk-taking style; little wonder she’s the movie’s best awards prospect, with a Golden Globe nod already under her belt.
It’s a pity that Talk to Me’s Sophie Wilde isn’t given the chance to do more with the role of Romy’s observant PA Esme, who hovers on the sidelines for most of the film. Meanwhile, the ending feels perhaps a little pat, compared with the complexities of power and desire Reijn broaches elsewhere. But in the final analysis, this is a witty, sensitive, honest and surprising study of one woman’s basic instincts. (Matthew Leyland)
In short: The best Kidman-starring erotic odyssey set around Christmas since Eyes Wide Shut.
Stay for the end credits? No bonus scenes - but like the opener, some arresting audio, this time in the form of Sky Ferreira’s banging ‘Leash’.
Content advisory: One milky moment may trigger UK viewers’ memories of a certain role-playing session on Celebrity Big Brother…
Maria
12A, in cinemas now
⭐⭐⭐☆☆
Following 2016’s Jackie and 2021’s Spencer, Maria is the third film in director Pablo Larraín’s thematically harmonious trilogy about towering and tragic 20th-century women. Here Angelina Jolie plays celebrated opera singer Maria Callas. Living in Paris in the 1970s with her butler (Pierfrancesco Favino) and housekeeper (Alba Rohrwacher), she eyes a return to the stage after years away from the spotlight, as documentarian Mandrax (Kodi Smit-McPhee) surfaces old memories of her marriage to Greek magnate Aristotle Onassis. Elegantly mounted by Larraín and cinematographer Ed Lachman, and featuring Jolie’s most committed performance in at least two decades, Maria is a well-made, if self-important, study of a legendary diva’s dying days. Steven Knight’s script can’t quite hit the same high notes, starting with Callas’ death and jumping back a week from there – like an episode of noughties spy series Alias. And while live singing was never going to be an option with a voice like Callas’ to mimic, the decision to have Jolie lip-sync creates a critical disconnect during the numerous musical performances. This is a noble if flawed conclusion to a curious 21st-century experiment. (Jordan Farley)
The Girl with the Needle
15, in cinemas now
⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
A confronting and grim film, this hard-to-categorise historical drama is Denmark’s submission for the Best International Film Oscar. Shot in stark, expressionistic black-and-white, it is based on true events but if you’re not already familiar with the real-life context, details won’t be given here. Our way into the story is through Karoline (Vic Carmen Sonne), a woman struggling to make ends meet in post-WW1 Denmark. She’s buffeted from hardship to hardship, until she falls under the wing of Dagmar (Trine Dyrholm), who runs an illicit operation placing unwanted babies with new families (the sweet shop she works out of adds to the twisted-fairy-tale vibe). There’s disturbing imagery from the outset, along with an unsettling score and boxy framing that cranks up the claustrophobia. It's an uncomfortable watch, but for the strong of stomach there are rewards to be found in the artistry, and the compellingly disturbing revelations that intensify throughout towards a mildly cathartic conclusion. (Matt Maytum)
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