The demands of achieving both one-day shipping and a satisfying orgasm collide in Halina Reijn91裸聊视频檚 a kinky and darkly comic erotic thriller about sex in the Amazon era.
stars as Romy Mathis, the chief executive of Tensile, a robotics business that pioneered automotive warehouses. In the movie91裸聊视频檚 opening credits, a maze of conveyor belts and bots shuttle boxes this way and that without a human in sight.
Romy, too, is a little robotic. She intensely presides over the company. Her eyes are glued to her phone. She gets Botox injections, practices corporate-speak presentations (91裸聊视频淟ook up, smile and never show your weakness91裸聊视频�) and maintains a floor-through New York apartment, along with a mansion in the suburbs that she shares with her theater-director husband ( ) and two teenage daughters (Esther McGregor and Vaughan Reilly).
But the veneer of control is only that in 91裸聊视频淏补产测驳颈谤濒,91裸聊视频� a sometimes campy, frequently entertaining modern update to the erotically charged movies of the 1990s, like 91裸聊视频淏asic Instinct91裸聊视频� and 91裸聊视频�9 1/2 Weeks.91裸聊视频� Reijn, the Dutch director of has critically made her film from a more female point of view, resulting in ever-shifting gender and power dynamics that make 91裸聊视频淏abygirl91裸聊视频� seldom predictable 91裸聊视频� even if the film is never quite as daring as it seems to thinks it is.
The opening moments of 91裸聊视频淏补产测驳颈谤濒,91裸聊视频� which A24 releases Wednesday, are of Kidman in close-up and apparent climax. But moments after she and her husband finish and say 91裸聊视频淚 love you,91裸聊视频� she retreats down the hall to writhe on the floor while watching cheap, transgressive internet pornography. The breathy soundtrack, by the composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer, heaves and puffs along with the film91裸聊视频檚 main character.
One day while walking into the office, Romy is taken by a scene on the street. A violent dog gets loose but a young man, with remarkable calmness, calls to the dog and settles it. She seems infatuated. The man turns out to be Samuel (Harris Dickinson), one of the interns just starting at Tensile. When they meet inside the building, his manner with her is disarmingly frank. Samuel arranges for a brief meeting with Romy, during which he tells her, point blank, 91裸聊视频淚 think you like to be told what to do.91裸聊视频� She doesn91裸聊视频檛 disagree.
Some of the same dynamic seen on the sidewalk, of animalistic urges and submission to them, ensues between Samuel and Romy. A great deal of the pleasure in 91裸聊视频淏abygirl91裸聊视频� comes in watching Kidman, who so indelibly depicted uncompromised female desire in Stanley Kubrick91裸聊视频檚 91裸聊视频淓yes Wide Shut,91裸聊视频� again wade into the mysteries of sexual hunger.
91裸聊视频淏补产测驳颈谤濒,91裸聊视频� which Reijn also wrote, is sometimes a bit much. (In one scene, Samuel feeds Romy saucers of milk while George Michael91裸聊视频檚 91裸聊视频淔ather Figure91裸聊视频� blares.) But its two lead actors are never anything but completely magnetic. Kidman deftly portrays Romy as a woman falling helplessly into an affair; she both knows what she91裸聊视频檚 doing and doesn91裸聊视频檛.
Dickinson exudes a disarming intensity; his chemistry with Kidman, despite their quickly forgotten age gap, is visceral. As their affair evolves, Samuel91裸聊视频檚 sense of control expands and he begins to threaten a call to HR. That he could destroy her doesn91裸聊视频檛 necessarily make Romy any less interested in seeing him, though there are some delicious post-#MeToo ironies in their clandestine CEO-intern relationship. Also in the mix is Romy91裸聊视频檚 executive assistant, Esme (Sophie Wilde, also very good), who91裸聊视频檚 eager for her own promotion.
Where 91裸聊视频淏abygirl91裸聊视频� heads from here, I won91裸聊视频檛 say. But the movie is less interested in workplace politics than it is in acknowledging authentic desires, even if they91裸聊视频檙e a little ludicrous. There91裸聊视频檚 genuine tenderness in their meetings, no matter the games that are played. Late in the film, Samuel describes it as 91裸聊视频渢wo children playing.91裸聊视频�
As a kind of erotic parable of control, 91裸聊视频淏abygirl91裸聊视频� is also, either fittingly or ironically, shot in the very New York headquarters of its distributor, A24. For a studio that91裸聊视频檚 sometimes been accused of having a 91裸聊视频渉ouse style,91裸聊视频� here91裸聊视频檚 a movie that goes one step further by literally moving in.
What about that automation stuff earlier? Well, our collective submission to digital overloads might have been a compelling jumping-off point for the film, but along the way, not every thread gets unraveled in the easily distracted 91裸聊视频淏abygirl.91裸聊视频� Saucers of milk will do that.
91裸聊视频淏补产测驳颈谤濒,91裸聊视频� an A24 release, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for 91裸聊视频渟trong sexual content, nudity and language.91裸聊视频� Running time: 114 minutes. Three stars out of four.
