Halina Reijn breaks down the sexy, modern fantasies of Babygirl • Journal • A Magazine • , Life in canada

“Get on your knees”

While Romy and Samuel’s attraction is, it seems, instant, their first proper encounter takes a lot of careful planning, and an abundance of caution. It ends with Romy on her belly (after licking milk off a plate while on her hands and knees), in and amongst a ratty, cheap motel-room carpet, moaning in ecstasy. But it begins, and plays out, with great tenderness, in huge part thanks to Babygirl’s intimacy coordinator Lizzy Talbot. “We need intimacy coordinators to feel safe—having been an actress without intimacy coordinators, I cannot express how needed they are—but also to create scenes that are more sexual, that suggest way more, but that require way less from the actors,” Reijn says. It’s a scene that might make you think: “Let’s campaign to get intimacy coordinators their own Oscar category,” like Crazyobsessive does.

But there was already little room for misunderstanding or improvisation in Reijn’s script in that scene—Samuel’s hesitation and nuance is entirely intentional. He tells Romy to get on her knees twice, but the delicacy is undeniable. “In the writing, it was important to show the dom, Samuel, not portrayed in the way we’ve seen in years for movies. I don’t think it’s very human or realistic,” Reijn explains. “It was very important for Samuel, representing this younger generation, to be more powerful in the sexual relationship, but also to ask for consent. Harris understood that because he’s a unique actor: he has this macho, confident layer, but he can also change in a second into a very vulnerable young man.”

In practice, that means Samuel suggests that “maybe” Romy could get on all fours—which she does. “I don’t want to hurt you,” her dominant lover whispers. From there, the scene becomes incredibly charged: “God created movies so that I could watch Nicole Kidman on all fours drink milk off a tiny plate”, writes Lindsey. From that point onwards, Talbot’s work comes into full focus: not by choreographing the sex scene but by enhancing both the experience of those doing the work on set and the impact for those watching it on the big screen, through key tips and secrets of the craft.

“Intimacy coordinators are the same as a stunt team for a fight scene: they can teach you tricks that are way less difficult and intimate to do, but the result on-screen is way more intimate,” Reijn explains. “You put your hand on a very different body part, but it communicates something very intense. Lizzy could help with all the very specific things I wrote, like how Romy lies on her belly in the scene that she climaxes for the first time, for example. Harris could touch Nicole on her leg, very far away from any intimate parts, yet the actors can communicate with each other when they’re going to achieve this climax.”

Mission complete: “See what happens when you hire an intimacy coordinator?” asks Liv, giving the film five stars.