Nicole Kidman has described her role in Halina Reijn’s 2024 film Babygirl as a “calling”, saying its exploration of female sexuality and desire presented a perspective she felt compelled to bring to mainstream audiences. The film matters because it places an older woman’s sexual identity, agency and uncertainty at the centre of an erotic drama, challenging the tendency to treat women as no longer sexual as they age.

Kidman plays Romy, a powerful chief executive whose marriage leaves her sexually unfulfilled and who enters an unconventional relationship with a younger intern, played by Harris Dickinson. The story examines shifting power, gender and the collision of Romy’s professional, family and intimate lives; Kidman said the character appears to have everything but remains unsure of her own wants and desires.