It’s a masterclass in kink, blasting through a collective shame around sexual fantasies by presenting one woman’s journey without judgment

Nicole Kidman stars as a powerful New York business executive who’s seemingly.

balancing professional success and personal fulfillment in her marriage to a theater director.

The crack in that façade reveals itself late at night , when Romy masturbates alone, after having sex with her husband.

Director Halina Reijn wrote Babygirl out of her enduring love for the erotic drama.

Nicole Kidman and Halina Dickinson co-starred in Babygirl .

The collaboration offered Kidman a level of intimacy into that kind of filmmaking she’d never experienced before.

The seductive dynamic between Romy and Samuel plays out as distinctly modern.

“A lot of the themes in my movies have been explored through the lens of sexuality,” Kidman says.

The film is undeniably titillating (Reijn prefers “juicy”) rather than operating in the dark, fatalistic mode of many an erotic drama, it’s a rollicking, risqué entertainment that winds its way toward hope.

Babygirl will premiere this Friday at the Venice Film Festival before being released in U.S. theaters by A24 on December 20 .