‘Babygirl’: The Kinky Nicole Kidman Sex Scene That’s Shocking Audiences

Babygirl is incredibly sexy. It’s also funny, and daring. That’s especially true of a key scene, in which two lovers discover their boundaries in a hotel. What’s fascinating about this particular scene in Babygirl isn’t just its length—though it’s a remarkable 10 minutes—but its fearless approach to kink and desire, anchored by exquisite work from Nicole Kidman. It’s in turns stressful, steamy, awkward, and hilarious.

Everything in Romy’s (Nicole Kidman) life is dictated by strict order—an order she controls. As the CEO of a major corporation, she’s responsible for the careers and well-being of thousands. “I see myself as a strategy expert, but also a human expert,” she says in a promotional video for her business. She’s unflinching in the corporate world, so much so that her assistant jokes that Romy must have been raised by soldiers or robots.

That sense of control drives her in business, but behind closed doors, Romy is exhausted by that control—which manifests particularly in her sexual frustrations. She wants to relinquish her dominance, but doesn’t know how—and how can she when everyone from her husband (Antonio Banderas) to her colleagues all see her as a power-hungry force?

The only person who can see Romy’s true desire is her intern Samuel (Harris Dickinson): “I think you like to be told what to do,” he tells her. That crosses a line, but it’s a line she wants crossed. They begin to meet more often, not as mentor and mentee, but as something a whole lot kinkier. At an after-work drink, Samuel orders Romy a glass of milk from across the bar. She drinks the whole glass in one gulp, and after, as Samuel leaves, he calls Romy a “good girl,” shocking her, but arousing her even more. Game on.

The pivotal sex scene in Babygirl comes soon after. Romy finds a note on her desk from Samuel, with details of a hotel to meet him at. She attends, wearing an elegant, understated black dress, contrasting against the dimly lit, dingy hotel room. When Samuel enters a few minutes later, Romy tries to take control of the scene, demanding their dynamic come to an immediate end; it’s inappropriate, and it has to stop.

But that’s not really what she wants, and Samuel knows that. He demands she get on her knees, but then starts laughing uncomfortably. “Is that what you want?... Be honest,” he implores her. “I don’t want to hurt you,” she says meekly, barely registering above a whisper. But it’s Samuel with the power here—one call and he can blow up her entire life.

Romy, longing to be submissive, finds this genuinely arousing. When she’s about to leave, she turns around and tries to kiss him passionately, which he rejects, and the two tussle and end up on the floor together. Romy places her hands on his eyes and asks him to open them. He refuses. After more disagreement, the two sit on the bed side by side.

Watching Romy and Samuel try to understand what they both want from this new dynamic is hugely compelling, and extremely rare in cinema. There have been a surprising surge of great sex scenes this year, but the hotel scene in Babygirl is on a whole other level.

Typically, even the most erotic movies show standard sexual interactions, but Samuel and Romy have a different dynamic. They know they want each other, but not how they want each other. The pair is testing the boundaries of their new relationship, which is largely dominant (Samuel) and submissive (Romy), but there’s a lot more to it than simple labels. Here, in this seedy hotel, these unlikely lovers are navigating these new roles for the first time.

This isn’t new ground for cinema—just ask filmmakers like Catherine Breillat or Gaspar Noé, whose films regularly explore the intimacies of sex and desire. It’s rarer in American independent cinema, but not non-existent; John Cameron Mitchell’s Shortbus (2006), for example, has a no-holds-barred approach to sex. But an American film featuring A-list talent like Kidman so openly exploring sexual desire with no interest in sugar-coating it? That feels revolutionary.

After a moment of quiet, Samuel has Romy get on all fours in front of him. She takes a deep breath, initially hesitant but slowly getting more comfortable with the situation. Samuel unwraps a candy and holds it in his outstretched palm. Instinctively, Romy crawls towards him and puts it in her mouth, and spits it back out into Samuel’s hand, as instructed. Writer-director Halina Reijn wisely shoots the scene without any music, allowing the viewer to focus entirely on their breathing and excitement in their breath.

She lies flat on the ground, as Samuel begins to use his fingers on her. Reijn keeps the camera fixed in a medium shot of Kidman’s face, overcome and overwhelmed with pleasure. Something has finally been unlocked within her, after years of trying to keep it at bay. Her lifelong desire to submit to another person has been fulfilled. It’s thrilling, yet terrifying. She tries to get up, but Samuel encourages her to stay down and submit, which she’s more than willing to do. The camera remains on Kidman as she cycles through emotions: resistance, fear, vulnerability, and excitement, all in a minute, ending in an orgasm.

Dickinson is great here, but the focus is rightly on Kidman, whose performance is striking in its vulnerability. Kidman has always embraced challenging roles, and Romy is one of her trickiest yet. Still, Kidman brings such gentleness behind the severity of Romy’s exterior, revealing a woman vigorously yearning to be desired and valued in ways considered taboo.

It’s all done without any hint of shame or judgement, as Babygirl revels in exploring sexual dynamics in a way that feels remarkably and refreshingly real. Samuel and Romy don’t rush through a quick scene where they thrust and groan away. They connect on a deeper, primal level. That’s the Babygirl difference.