Romy (Nicole Kidman) has got it all. She is a successful and admired CEO with a doting husband Jacob (Antonio Banderas) and two teenage daughters (Esther McGregor and Vaughan Reilly).

That said, the fact that she heads up a company specialized in robotics and that her husband is a theatre director should tell you that she knows a thing or two about living life in automation mode and excels when it comes to nailing a performance when she needs to. As we learn in the first scenes of Babygirl, she is sexually going through the motions and needs to head to her laptop for some sub-dom roleplay once she’s had a seemingly intense orgasm with her husband.

She begins an affair with the cocksure Samuel (Harris Dickinson), one of her new interns who she previously clocked in the street taming a dog who was about to launch itself at her. She’s immediately drawn to his assertiveness, his disregard for office niceties and his general disobedient attitude. As their BDSM-tinged relationship develops, so do the threat levels.

Is Romy finally getting to explore the sexual terrains she has previously denied herself, putting her on the way to sexual fulfilment? Or is she being used by a rather predatory man who could torpedo her everything she has built at the drop of hat?

As Samuel casually points out: “I could make one call and you could lose everything.”

But that could be the biggest turn on of all… And she seems to realize it. When Jacob asks her early on if he is relevant to her as a director, she replies: “We are all irrelevant – we need to pay more attention to the avalanche that’s going to cover us very soon.”

Prescient words, as an avalanche is coming.

To label Babygirl a transgressive erotic drama might be doing it something of a disservice; while it is steamy at times, it’s more of a late-stage coming-of-age tale that deals with self-discovery and focuses on a woman’s vulnerability, shame, rage, and how she deals with slanted power dynamics.

Dutch director Halina Reijn, who previously directed Bodies Bodies Bodies, as well as Instinct, which centred on a psychosexual relationship between a sex offender and his therapist, shows once again that she can delve into illicit desires and gendered power dynamics with brio. Here, she shines not only in the way she explores how “shameful” desires need their space – and how their suppression can be just as potentially dangerous as a torrid affair – but also in her lack of moral judgement. Reijn’s film embraces the often-contradictory forces that make people who they are, and never judges its characters.

There are no good or bad binaries here; just complex people with voracious desires which adds to the central question: Who is in control?

Kidman excels when it comes to embodying this, and is mesmerizing throughout. She imbues Romy with an understated vulnerability and conveys her inner conflicts despite attempting to keep up appearances. As for Banderas, he delivers an understated performance that completely matches hers with significantly less screen time.

What prevents Babygirl from being a true knockout, however, are superior cinematic touchstones, as it’s hard (pipe down at the back) not to think of The Piano Teacher, Elle or Eyes Wide Shut. All feel relevant since (in order): Isabelle Huppert is this year’s jury president and starred in Michael Haneke’s erotic psychological drama; she also starred in the 2016 psycho-sexual thriller by Paul Verhoeven, a director who Reijn acted for in Black Book in 2006; and Kidman was on the Lido 25 years ago with the late director’s final – and controversial – film. Granted, all directed by men but feature complex female characters and explore layered feminine desire in ways that make behind-the-camera genders irrelevant.

Reijn’s take on the 80s erotic thriller remains a bold update, and never limits itself to post #MeToo moralising. It’s a brave film considering its candour and casting, as the film does hit at the heart of American puritanism and puts certain films that consider themselves to be envelope-pushing in perspective, highlighting once more that some of its supposedly taboo-shaking predecessors (9 ½ Weeks, Fifty Shades of Grey) are in fact tame in the extreme – and in the latter’s case, deeply insulting. However, the aforementioned films from Haneke, Verhoeven and Kubrick felt more challenging when exploring complicated and prudishly impermissible yearnings.

While Babygirl is an admirably sex-positive drama, it does tend to limit itself to: Honest and open communication regarding desire is vital. Crucial though that message is, the film may not be the electrifying, nor thought-provoking, jolt one could have hoped for.

Babygirl premiered at the 81st Venice Film Festival in Competition.

Ciao! Welcome back for another friendly roundup of things to do, watch and hear this weekend and beyond.

While our focus has very much been on the Paralympics and 81st Venice Film Festival beginning – and everyone else’s on the Oasis reunion – September’s tilt towards Autumn also brings a breeze of new art shows and cinema releases ahead of awards season, along with some fantastic local festivals and events.

From Renaissance smells to drug cartel musicals, we’ve narrowed things down to the following.

Exhibitions

‘Leonardo da Vinci and the Perfumes of the Renaissance’ at the Château du Clos Lucé (Amboise, France)

Leonardo da Vinci was known for being great at many things – but how many of you would name fragrance creation and collection among them? An exhibition in central France is highlighting this little-known fact about the 15th century Italian polymath, inviting guests to experience an “olfactory and immersive journey into the world of Renaissance perfumes, following the intertwined destinies of Leonardo da Vinci and his mother Caterina.”

It includes six sensory spaces, where visitors can sniff out what it might have been like to wander through the courts of Venice, Florence and Milan in the very times that Da Vinci himself once did. There are also over 60 of his reconstructed works of art and objects to on display, including the necklace from ‘Lady with an Ermine’. Unlike a lot of immersive exhibits, this is a truly multi-sensory event that’s cleverly constructed to uncover fascinating and previously unrecognised elements of Da Vinci’s works. It also highlights a growing trend in the use of scents at exhibitions to instigate a more intimate, revealing and inclusive encounter with art. See (and smell) it soon – closing on the 15 September 2024.

‘LAIKA: Frame x Frame’ at the BFI Southbank (London, UK)

For fans of Coraline and ParaNorman, the BFI’s new(ish – it opened 12 August) exhibition is a must. Dedicated to the award-winning stop-motion animation company LAIKA, who worked on the aforementioned films and others like Kubo and the Two Strings and The Boxtrolls, it showcases the armature-arousing intricacy of their creations and delves into the stories behind them. It’s also free – and being presented alongside a season celebrating stop motion animation in cinema. Just don’t leave with buttons for eyes.

Festivals and events

‘Jazz in the Park’ (Transylvania, Romania)

As if the fairytale-esque setting of Transylvania’s Ethnographic Park couldn’t be any more magical, it will be host to an annual jazz festival from 30-1 September. Limited to 7,000 people per day, it’s very much a community event that sees nearly every local getting involved and the entire village becoming a glowing hub of creativity and support. In 2019, it even won the title of Europe’s Best Small Festival at the European Festival Awards. This year, there will be 40 concerts across four stages, along with six delicious restaurants to try, workshops to take part in and much more. Find tickets here.

‘ALL CAPS’ (Rotterdam, Netherlands)

Paint the town red! And blue, and green, and all the colours because one of the world’s biggest street art festivals returns from 1 September to 8 September in Rotterdam’s Beverwaard district. Running for the past six years, the event sees everything from walls to cars painted with murals by incredible international artists, the neighbourhood transformed by an explosion of creativity and character. There will be music and food too, plus entry is free!

Movies

Public service announcement: UK-based readers – a reminder that it’s National Cinema Day on 31 August. The initiative, which was started by Cinema First, the Film Distributors’ Association and the UK Cinema Association in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic to encourage people back to the big screen, it sees over 630 cinemas across the country selling tickets for just £4. In other words, there was never a better time or excuse to cancel all pre-existing plans and watch movies all day.

Emilia Pérez

A Spanish-language melodrama/musical about a Mexican cartel boss called Manitas (Karla Sofía Gascón) that wants to become a woman, it’s hard to imagine how such an audacious idea could actually work. But it does, with French director Jacques Audiard delivering “a bold and brilliant swing for the fences, a perfectly orchestrated folly with a fully realised vision that never plays it safe,” according to Euronews Culture’s David Mouriquand, who reviewed the film following its premiere at Cannes this year where Gascón and the principle female cast shared the best actress prize. The cast also includes Selena Gomez as Manitas’ wife, and Zoé Saldaña as the lawyer he kidnaps and tasks with finding a doctor to perform the desired surgical procedures.

Venice Film Festival 2024

The 81st Venice Film Festival is officially underway, having opened with Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice on the 28 August (read the review for that one here). Known as the awards season whisperer, its line-up is richly varied (and a little bit steamy), with some of the most anticipated movies both inside and outside of Competition, including Pedro Almodóvar’s The Room Next Door, Todd Phillips’ Joker: Folie à Deux, Luca Guadagnino’s Queer and Athina Rachel Tsangari’s period drama Harvest. Stay tuned to Euronews Culture for all reviews and news updates from the Lido – including our latest review for Pablo Larraín’s Maria Callas biopic, starring Angelina Jolie.

TV show

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (Prime Video)

It was, quite possibly, Amazon’s biggest ever gamble: the first season of ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’, which premiered in 2022, had a budget of $1 billion (roughly €898,425 million) making it the most expensive TV show ever made. Did it pay off? Well, viewership was high and reviews generally positive, with Euronews Culture’s Giulia Carbonaro writing, “it manages to recreate an entire world – universe, if you like – of epic proportions that feels realistic and lived-in” but also noting, ” it falls into the trap of giving us what we already know and love, instead of bringing something truly original to the table.”

Now, after a long interlude, the second season has arrived and continues to unfurl the events of the fabled Second Age of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth. While not all those who wander are lost, this show does have a tendency to dilly-dally in its own spectacle – we’re hoping it leads to some more eventful storylines this time around, especially considering the wait time!

Music

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds: Wild God

It’s been a good year for Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds fans, with a TV adaptation in the works for Cave’s book “The Death Of Bunny Monro”, three major album anniversaries to celebrate, and now – finally – the release of the band’s 18th studio album ‘Wild God’.

“It’s a complicated record, but it’s also deeply and joyously infectious,” Cave said in a statement, adding: “There’s no fucking around with this record. When it hits, it hits. It lifts you. It moves you. I love that about it.” The album follows 2019’s ‘Ghosteen’ and shows, once again, the Seeds’ remarkable ability to continuously evolve their sounds in ever more interesting and deeply prophetic ways, while still touching on idiosyncratic familiarities. Read our full review here.

Travellers from outside the EU are getting ready for the launch of the new Entry/Exit System (EES) on 10 November, but are Schengen countries ready to welcome them?

There’s been much trepidation about Europe’s new digital border system, which has been repeatedly delayed.

But, finally, new scanners are appearing at airports across the EU and processing areas have been set up at international ports and train stations.

Millions of euros have been ploughed into preparing for the new checks, which will register non-EU passengers’ biometric data each time they enter and exit the Schengen Area.

Still, tourists have been warned of potential delays and queues at checkpoints when the EES launches this autumn.

What is the UK doing to prepare for the EES?

The changes will arguably hit post-Brexit Britain the hardest, with travellers forced to jump through new hoops when visiting the EU.

While airport checks will be carried out on arrival in EU countries, those for international train, car and ferry services will take place before departure from the UK.

The UK government is working hard to reduce queueing and disruption. This week, it announced £10.5 million (€12.5m) in funding to support preparations at the Port of Dover, Folkestone’s Eurotunnel and Eurostar at St Pancras train station in London.

This money is being used to set up the technology and processes needed for smooth EES registration, including establishing a dedicated processing site at the Port of Dover and installing additional self-service kiosks for Eurotunnel and Eurostar passengers.

At these kiosks, UK travellers will have to register at the border by having their fingerprints and photographs taken.

The funding will also be used to “undertake rigorous testing to reduce the risk of disruption”, according to the UK government, and support recruitment and training of staff to contribute to smoother EES implementation.

‘Nobody wants to see excessive queues’

Ministers in the UK say the funding will help minimise disruption for British travellers and ensure EES registration gets off to a smooth start.

“Nobody wants to see excessive queues at our ports, which is why we’re providing this funding to ensure our borders are as prepared as possible for the upcoming change – despite EES being an EU initiative,” says UK Future of Roads Minister Lilian Greenwood.

“Since coming into government, we have been reviewing plans and closely supporting ports to make sure they have the right processes in place so that EES registration can be smooth and queue times kept to a minimum.”

The government says the Port of Dover, Eurotunnel and Eurostar are “now on track for a smooth transition ahead of implementation later this year”.

Despite raising concerns earlier in the year, all three ports now offer a rosier picture of the EES implementation.

“Eurostar will be fully prepared and compliant by November, ensuring a smooth transition for all our passengers,” says Simon Lejeune, Eurostar chief safety and stations officer.

Yann Leriche, CEO of Getlink – which operates Eurotunnel – adds that thanks to two years of preparations and £70 million (€83m) in investments, “when the new regulation is introduced, people will travel through the Channel Tunnel just as easily as they do today.”

While it has been touch and go for some countries like Malta, which until July was expected to implement an alternative manual system after failing to start EES preparations early enough, the European Commission now insists all Member States are ready for the changes.

“At every single airport, every single harbour and every single road into Europe, we will have digital border controls – all connected, all switched on at the very same time,” European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson said on 16 August.

Despite these preparations, UK travel agents remain dubious about the EES launch.

A lack of awareness among travellers and varied levels of preparedness at different airports could cause “long queues, chaos and confusion”, travel association AITO has warned.

It has called for an extended transition period and for checks to be relaxed when waiting times are lengthy.

However, the European Commission confirmed to Euronews Travel in July that “all travellers subject to EES will be recorded in the system at all border crossing points from day one,” adding that it has provided all EU Member States with the “necessary tools to ensure a smooth traffic flow”.

A mobile app allowing passengers to pre-register their data before travelling will be available in some countries, but this is being adopted on a voluntary basis.

Concerns have also been raised about the EES launch clashing with the phase-in of the UK’s own Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) for visa-free travellers, which began in May.

The introduction of the ETIAS travel system in the first half of 2025, which will require non-EU visa-free travellers to obtain a €7 electronic travel authorisation, is expected to complicate travel even further.