Nicole Kidman feels 'exposed and vulnerable' as sex drama hits Venice
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[August 31, 2024]
By Crispian Balmer
VENICE (Reuters) - Nicole Kidman brought her erotic drama "Babygirl" to
the Venice Film Festival on Friday, saying she felt exposed and nervous
as the controlled intimacy of the set gets projected onto the big screen
before a global audience.
Kidman has made a string of risque films throughout her career,
including Stanley Kubrick's "Eyes Wide Shut", which premiered in Venice
25 years ago. But she told reporters she was highly anxious about the
reaction to her latest movie.
Kidman plays a successful New York CEO, Romy, who jeopardises both her
career and her family by having a torrid affair with a young,
opportunistic intern.
"Making it with these people here, it was delicate and intimate and
very, very deep," said Kidman, sitting alongside the director, Halina
Reijn, and fellow stars Antonio Banderas, who plays her husband, and
Harris Dickinson, her lover.
"But this definitely leaves me exposed and vulnerable and frightened ...
when it's given to the world," she added. "We're all a bit nervous, so I
was like, I hope my hands aren't shaking."
Shot by a female director, "Babygirl" brings a woman's gaze to the
erotic thriller genre as she explores Romy's darkest fantasies that she
cannot fulfill within the confines of her apparently successful
marriage.
"I'm very delighted to be able to make a film about female desire, but
it's also a film about a woman in an existential crisis, and it has many
layers," said Reijn, whose earlier movies included the 2022 comedy
horror "Bodies Bodies Bodies".
"Babygirl" reveals profound differences in the ways younger and older
generations view sex in a city where political correctness reigns.
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Cast member Nicole Kidman poses on the red carpet during arrivals
for the screening of the movie "Babygirl", in competition, at the
81st Venice Film Festival, Venice, Italy, August 30, 2024. REUTERS/Yara
Nardi
"I think there is in general a
confusion about how to ... conduct yourself within sex as well,"
Dickinson said, praising the work of the intimacy coordinator who
helped the actors overcome their natural boundaries.
"It's always nerve-wracking constructing a scene anyway, so then you
add something intimate to it and it's very vulnerable," he said.
Setting the tone for the film, "Babygirl" opens with a close-up on
Kidman as she fails to achieve an orgasm with her husband, launching
her search for satisfaction elsewhere.
"The huge orgasm gap ... still exists, people. Take note, men,"
Reijn said to laughs, adding that she hoped her movie would
"function as a tribute to self-love and liberation".
Kidman, who won the Oscar for Best Actress for her portrayal of
Virginia Woolf in "The Hours" in 2002, has worked with many of the
leading male directors of her generation, but she said she decided
some years ago to promote women filmmakers, like Reijn.
"I'm going to put my weight behind a lot of women now, in terms of
directors, to try and change the ratio," she said.
Six of the 21 films in the main competition at Venice were directed
by women, including "Babygirl". Last year, five out of 23
competition movies had female directors.
(Reporting by Crispian Balmer, Editing by William Maclean)
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