In a season typically marked with cozy, festive and familial imagery, movie-goers have been met with an unusual amount of erotic cinematic experiences. Robert Eggers’ “Nosferatu” and Helina Rejin’s “Babygirl,” offered audiences two unorthodox depictions of female desire and its connection to society. A trait often suppressed to the point of danger and darkness.
What might strike you as two dissimilar films are ultimately more alike than not, as both have pushed our society to contemplate the nature of sexual repression. Additionally, the two movies suffer from stylistic mishaps from their directors which leave them feeling flaccid, for lack of a better term.
Eggers’ reimagining of the horror classic “Nosferatu” (originally an adaptation of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”) is largely faithful to its source material from German auteurs F. W. Murnau and Werner Herzog, featuring shots and scenes that call back to its earlier iterations.
Conversely, “Babygirl” is a deeply modern film based oin the corporate culture of America. Nicole Kidman stars as a cutthroat executive, mother and wife combo who finds herself in a salacious sexual relationship with her intern because her husband has never made her orgasm in their thirty years of marriage. Although it is an original screenplay, “Babygirl” does owe some of its theming and oeuvre to desire-driven cinema from the past such as “Belle du Jour:” a cutting 1967 film about a blonde wife who takes up prostitution while her husband is at work. And other erotic thrillers like Michael Haneke’s “La Pianiste” and Kidman’s own “Eyes Wide Shut.”
Both films seek to show the audience what the pull of desire can do to what society views as contented women. In one instance it awakes a centuries-sleeping vampire (“Nosferatu”), and in another, it jeopardizes a woman’s entire livelihood (“Babygirl”). However, at the end of the day, both films struggle to be truly transportive.
Eggers has, quite impressively, put an innovative edge to “Nosferatu” by including modern commentary on female sexuality and abuse; however, it lacks the overwhelming dread and eeriness that the 1922 and 1979 versions have. Eggers’ own ambition to create historically accurate dressings and backgrounds makes the film feel artificial. It’s the kind of thing that is questionable because the audience is aware they are watching a horror film about a made-up monster. So his decision ultimately rings as a choice that was made only because he had the budget for it. All attempts to immerse the audience ultimately fall flat in terms of camerawork and editing. Throughout the film, scenes were too perfectly curated to a point of becoming stilted.
On the other hand, Rajin’s “Babygirl” dips its toes into surrealist imagery and the provocative display of kink, but remains lukewarm throughout the majority of its runtime. What is perhaps meant to be an attempt at showing a realistic development of a relationship between Kidman and Harry Dickinson’s character (her intern lover) ultimately comes off as forced and unnatural from the beginning. In one scene, Kidman rebukes him several times and then, almost comically, falls into his arms in 30 seconds.
When the lovemaking finally begins between the two, it is also not the most passionate or rapturous affair you would expect from the objectively attractive pairing. While some can claim this is for subtlety’s sake and an attempt by the director not to revel in complete debauchery, it is hard to claim the movie is trying to be subtle when we are given several minutes to admire and gaze upon Kidman’s naked body.
Where there are pitfalls in directorial choices, the acting by Lily-Rose Depp and Kidman are the redeeming factors in both movies. There is never a moment where they are not putting their complete heart and soul into the roles they are playing. Whether the back-bending possession of Depp’s Ellen Hunter character or Kidman’s sensual and confused sexual endeavors, it is evident they are both first-class actresses.
There is a closed-off aspect to both “Babygirl” and “Nosferatu” which prevents me from connecting with them more fully. Desire and sexuality are fundamentally human emotions and experiences, which can be difficult to convey in any form of creative work. It is elusive and distinct for each individual. However, if the two films were created to be transgressive and push the boundaries of society’s expectations of movies and desires, perhaps their directors should’ve been more adventurous with the filmmaking.
Successfully, though, both films have made me and millions of people question the limits of their desires and the role society plays in shaping our wants.
Nosferatu: four out of five Goats
Babygirl: three and a half out of five Goats