Nicole Kidman Says 'It Was Really Beautiful to Be Seen' as 'a Sexual Being' at 57 in New Movie “Babygirl”

Nicole Kidman is proud of how her new erotic thriller depicts women's sexuality at older ages.

"A lot of times women are discarded at a certain period of their career as a sexual being," Kidman, 57, told The Hollywood Reporter as she spoke about Babygirl in an article published Wednesday, Dec. 4. In the new movie, Kidman portrays a CEO named Romy who risks her job, family and marriage when she enters a kinky affair with a young intern named Samuel (Harris Dickinson).

"So it was really beautiful to be seen in this way. From the minute I read it, I was like, 'Yeah, this is a voice I haven’t seen, this is a place that I haven’t been, I don’t think audiences have been,' " Kidman said. "My character has reached a stage where she’s got all this power, but she’s not sure who she is, what she wants, what she desires, even though she seems to have it all. And I think that’s really relatable."

"There are many women who are going, 'Well, I’ve done this, I’ve got children, I’ve got this husband, and what do I actually want? Who am I and what are my desires? Do I have to pretend to be something else for people to love me?' " she continued. "I think it’s very releasing, this film. I hope it is. I’ve had some people say it’s the most disturbing film they’ve ever seen, which I’m like, 'Oh no, I’m so sorry.' "

Related: Nicole Kidman Brings It Back to 1998 in Vintage Dolce & Gabbana Gown and Vampy Lip at 2024 Gotham Awards 

Bodies Bodies Bodies filmmaker Halina Reijn directs Kidman in Babygirl, which also features Antonio Banderas as Romy's husband and Sophie Wilde as Romy's ambitious assistant. When THR asked the Academy Award winner what she felt "the most dangerous part" of making Babygirl was, Kidman said, "The sexuality of it. That it wasn’t written for a 20-year-old. It wasn’t written even for a 30-year-old."

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In August, at Babygirl's Venice Film Festival world premiere, Kidman told Vanity Fair that the sexualized nature of the movie "left me ragged."

Related: Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman's Son Connor Shares Rare Selfie While Playing Golf in Florida

"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. [Director Reijn] would hold me and I would hold her, because it was just very confronting to me,” she said at that time.

Babygirl is in theaters Dec. 25; when PEOPLE asked Kidman at the 2024 Gotham Awards on Dec. 2 whom audience members should take with them to the theater to see the movie, she said, "Whoever you want to, but you can also watch it alone."

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