One day, you’re an all-powerful CEO, a star wife, and a mother, and the next you’re eating out of the hand of your young student, literally. How is this contradiction possible, if it is a contradiction at all? Nicole Kidman’s response to both actresses in Halina Reijn’s film Baby girl and many others who identify as BDSM submission it lies in the abstract concept of the subterranean space: the symbolic space and altered state to which one submits during a kink scene, due to the arousal and exchange of consent.
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This idea is very new for Romy Mathis (Kidman, whose performance won her the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at this year’s Venice Film Festival). He is a sharply dressed big boss with his hair always tied up, until he meets Samuel (Harris Dickinson): a very small, shy, and naive student in a suit twice his size, brimming with ego. Romy finds herself in awe when Samuel takes control of the stray dog about jumping up to her in the street with a whistle and a nod. From this seemingly fleeting interaction, the flow of her desire steers the story into uncharted waters of the mysteries of quest and devotion, as Romy and Samuel begin a relationship based on an exploration of dominance and submission.
“Scene” and its double meaning
Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson in “Babygirl”.
Credit: A24
In accordance with Rain Dunekink teacher and host of Ask the Sub a podcasta Dominant/submissive (D/s) relationships provide a “cultural space,” where equal, agreeable adults interact, set boundaries and safe words, and create a “container where things can change and separate.” The setup is called “the arena” and within the kink scene, the submissive can find subspace. In theater, cinema, or kink, we associate the word “stage” with the chosen experience and performance.
Speaking to Mashable, director Halina Reijn overcomes this double meaning, adding that for her, Baby girl it’s about doing. “Yes, in the case of BDSM, there’s a lot going on,” she said, “but sex in general can be very effective.” As a result, this theme informed the script and interviews with Kidman, becoming a tool to explore the character’s authenticity. “Romy thinks she has to make the perfect mother, lover, wife, leader,” says Reijn, “and we all are – what we forget to do is be ourselves and accept whoever we are.”
But what does Baby girl what stands out is that it shows governance and submission as a process of negotiation, trial and error, rather than a textbook example or polished practice. Baby girlKink scenes feel real and inviting because they expose the inner workings of exchange control. In each scene, Samuel umms and ahhs, walks, laughs during his commands, while Romy is shown to resist, go back, and change his mind. For players, this means an additional layer of performance that includes passiveness and respect for consent; to the viewer it means connection.
Not all scenes are “fields” but subspace is space
Credit: A24
Subspace is a term used within the D/s and BDSM communities, according to Dune, to refer to the “altered state that comes as a result of the subspace experience.” He emphasizes that it is a broad category that includes each experience that can be different from each other, like being drunk or drinking alcohol, for example. Scientifically speaking, the mood is a reaction of adrenaline, oxytocin, and endorphins rushing to the brain, but what does subspace feel like?
Dune explains that for some people it may be a “floating, dreamy, quiet disconnected feeling,” while others may giggle or cry. “I like to refer to it as ‘getting high on yourself,'” he said, “because there is nothing, but the experience of falling over the taboo.”
Thinking about cinematic representations of liminal states – hallucinations (Enter the Void), drug-induced travel (Queer), or intoxication (Another Round) – perhaps the film is the most appropriate way to show a specific, elevated state of mind. The key is in the metaphor of place: one “enters” or “lives in” a place. Unlike other films, Baby girl it doesn’t rely on ancient visual imagery that depicts a dizzying, spell-binding world seen through the eyes of a bystander. Instead, the hand-held work of Reijn’s longtime collaborator, cinematographer Jasper Wolf is subtle.
Lights, camera, humility!
Credit: A24
During the movie, Romy and Samuel decide to meet at a cheap hotel. No wonder their story is about private spaces, the four walls of every office, the bathroom, and the swelling of the rented room with desire. When it’s just two people, they can be free from outside demands. In that sequence, Romy storms out and returns, Samuel tackles her to the ground, and their dynamic power becomes the source of the play: the scene begins. The camera pans down with her, close up of her face, while Samuel becomes a blur in the background: where he touches her and how is not as important as Romy’s reaction.
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Discussing that part of the film, Wolff tells Mashable that the camera is like a third character in the room with him. Instead of filming shots, he would film long, single takes to capture the sensual flow of the energy exchange. The camera often stays still and focuses on Romy, allowing the viewer to accompany her through the whole series of emotions that color her face with sensuality: from surprise to shame to happy release, we share in her devotion.
“It’s like watching honestly and sometimes not caring what will happen between the two of them,” he said.
Connecting the basement
Credit: A24
Why can’t words accurately describe the basement? “If we lived in a matriarchal utopia, we’d probably have more words for it,” Dune joked. But in today’s individualistic Western world, he points out that people are “expected to behave in a masculine way. Submissiveness, in contrast, is understood as a high risk associated with women.”
In cinema, pop culture, or everyday life, the contemptuous belief of men in power who want to be dominated and/or subjugated is often portrayed as a point of humor. Acknowledging the desire to be submissive is very expensive: “I will get at least one call a week from someone who says they want to be submissive, but I emphasize the fact that they are not submissive in their daily life,” says Dune.
What is the novel about Baby girl that shows not only the vulnerability of the characters, but also how much they are willing to reveal to each other. In cinematographic terms, this exchange of consent is interpreted through a moving movement that connects the faces of Romy and Samuel as they look at each other. “Simply,” said Wolf, “the camera often represents his inner world: he becomes free and fearless around Romy.”
On set, the cast and production team worked with public relations coordinator Lizzy Talbot (No Hard Feelings, Dead Ringers) to ensure there are no surprises. Dickinson, who previously worked with Talbot on the TV series Murder at the End of the World, he stressed the importance of clear communication. “If you approach [sex] scenes with great fear and sensitivity, can cause anxiety; you need an intimacy consultant to be very understanding and pragmatic about it,” he said he tells Mashable’s Anna Iovine. Reijn also met Talbot when writing the intimate scenes, saying that the work with the consultant “goes much further than just meeting him.”
It deals with subspace
Credit: A24
Later in the film, there is a second hotel room scene, where Samuel “guides” Romy across the luxury suite. He orders her to undress, tells her where to put her hands and how to pose. Even though they are both naked, the camera does not stay on their naked bodies, but on their faces. When they share the space below, they see each other again, and their new intimacy translates into the physical. To change the ebb and flow, Wolf used a combination of camera lenses, switching between spherical and anamorphic. As for the visible effect, “it’s not in your face and it shouldn’t be,” he says, “but a small change of perspective. [makes you] suddenly you see them with different eyes.” The game of lowering the guard is playing on their faces.
Unlike films like Steven Shainberg Secretary, associated with humility and suffering, Baby girl he succeeds in telegraphing to a wide audience the message that these are real people, and their desires – even if they are harmful to their current situation – need not be destructive or harshly punished. “The BDSM community,” Dune said in reference Secretary, “want to see more powerful people portrayed as submissive and break that stereotype.”
But he’s optimistic: “I think we’re getting closer to a better representation of BDSM on screen. Obviously, I’d be more than happy with films that employ prostitutes as mediators, but for example, a film like A holy place they’ve had little research done in the BDSM community, but what I saw on the screen rang true for me.” Dune admits he doesn’t expect an education in cinema, or at least not the kind offered by sex educators and kink educators like himself, adding. “a film should be about fiction.”
By placing babygirl’s exploration of subspace against a corporate, hetero-mono-normative background, Reijn also makes a political point. However, ephemeral, subspace is an altered state bound by consent that resists categorization. Perhaps the way for some of us to survive the hell of capitalism is to give ourselves up – to passions or films like that Baby girl – and take Dune’s advice: “Let the film rule you.”
Baby girl it’s showing in cinemas now.
