“Babygirl” Director Halina Reijn Says “Age Gap Should Completely Be Normalized” In Movies
In the bold new erotic thriller Babygirl, Nicole Kidman steps into a role that challenges societal norms around power, desire, and age dynamics in relationships. Directed by Halina Reijn, the film has sparked conversations about age gaps and female sexuality on screen. Amid the debate, Halina, known for her work on Bodies Bodies Bodies, spoke with W Magazine about the age difference between Nicole’s character, Romy, and her younger love interest, Samuel, played by Harris Dickinson.
“If we see a movie where the male actor is the same age as the female actor, we find that odd. Which is insane,” the director said, adding, “It should completely be normalized that the age gaps switch and that women have different relationships.”
Halina went on: “We’re not trapped in a box anymore. We internalize the male gaze, we internalize patriarchy, and we need to free ourselves from it. It’s really hard.”
Babygirl tells the story of Romy, a powerful tech CEO who finds herself entangled in a risky affair with a young intern. Nicole, who also spoke to The Hollywood Reporter, explained why she felt drawn to the character. According to her, women are often “discarded at a certain period of their career as a sexual being,” so “it was really beautiful to be seen in this way.”
The actress also shared her thoughts on Romy’s struggles: “My character has reached a stage where she’s got all this power, but she’s not sure who she is, what she wants, what she desires, even though she seems to have it all. And I think that’s really relatable.”
Halina revealed that Babygirl draws inspiration from classic erotic thrillers like Basic Instinct, 9½ Weeks, and Secretary. In an interview with filmmaker Eugene Kotlyarenko for Interview Magazine, she said, “I found so much fun in the fact that America to me has a kind of suppressed relationship towards sex, and I do too…So America serves as a metaphor of my own struggles with this theme.”
The director was also intentional about portraying sex scenes authentically. “Sexuality is stop-and-go. It’s never like a glamour scene from a Hollywood movie in the ’90s. That’s just not how it works,” she explained.
