There’s just over two months until Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson heat up our screens in A24’s very hotly-anticipated Babygirl. In case you’ve somehow managed to dodge the hype, the unlikely pair star as a powerful CEO (Kidman) and her much younger intern (Dickinson), who become entangled in an affair. And from what we’ve garnered from the first trailer – and now, Kidman’s most recent interview – the film is about as steamy as they come.
In a Q&A following a screening of Babygirl in Los Angeles, Kidman said shooting intimate scenes took “an enormous amount of trust” between the cast mates. "We would look at each other and go, 'okay,' " she said. As for why she chose to dip her toes into the erotic thriller genre now, Kidman shared, “This was an area I'd never been. There's a sort of a jump off the cliff thing where you go, okay, I'm just going to abandon everything and explore this with the people that I trust in a genre that is already set, but hopefully we can explore new territory and especially with the female at the helm." She’s also previously opened up to Vanity Fair about the toll of shooting a movie with so much intimacy. “It left me ragged. At some point I was like, I don’t want to be touched. I don’t want to do this anymore, but at the same time I was compelled to do it.”
With our anticipation for the film sky-high, we've found the perfect way to fill the days between now, and when we're finally able to watch Babygirl. Below, we’ve compiled a list of the best erotic films of all time, for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy.
Secretary (2002)
Secretary is an off-beat portrayal of on-screen desire and, at the time it was released, was one of the first movies to openly tackle sadomasochism. Like Babygirl, much of the action is centred around the workplace. The film stars Maggie Gyllenhaal as Lee, a young woman who moves in with her parents after a stay at a mental health facility. Determined to get back into the workforce, she finds work as a secretary for a demanding attorney, E. Edward Grey (James Spader). But, surprise surprise, before long, their professional relationship takes a romantic turn.
Unfaithful (2002)
Connie Sumner (Diane Lane) seems to have the perfect marriage, but all that is jeopardised when she meets a handsome stranger (Olivier Martinez) and strikes up an intense affair. But when her husband, Edward (Richard Gere), finds out, the consequences of her infidelity prove fatal...
Killing Me Softly (2002)
This 2002 classic has danger and desire in spades. Based on the 1999 novel by the same name, the film follows the happily married Alice (Heather Graham), who abandons her husband — and life as she knows it — after meeting Adam (Joseph Fiennes) an impossibly handsome, famous mountaineer. The two quickly marry but, without giving too much away, their marital bliss takes a dangerously sharp turn when Alice realises Adam is definitely not who he seems.
9 1/2 Weeks (1986)
This erotic drama stars Kim Basinger as a New York-based art gallery employee, Elizabeth, who becomes entangled in an affair with a mysterious Wall Street broker (Mickey Rourke). Though the two barely know each other outside of the bedroom, their sexual relationship continues to grow and intensify. Before too long, their companionship is thrown into question as Rourke's character continually pushes for more from Elizabeth, without giving her any markers of a traditional relationship in return.
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
Eyes Wide Shut stars then-married couple Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, as husband and wife Bill and Alice Hartford, so of course it made our list. The couple 's seemingly happy marriage takes on a new meaning when Alice confesses to Bill that she'd fantasised about having an affair with a man she met on vacation, and even considered leaving Bill and their daughter. Soon after their conversation, Bill is faced with a similar proposition when he is invited to an erotic party by an old friend, Nick (Todd Field) — on the condition that he arrive blindfolded, and wear a mask when inside at all times. But what happens there is more sinister than it first seems, and puts his marriage and life as he knows it on the line.