Halina Reijn’s Personal Female Gaze Rulebook for Babygirl
A man walks into a bar and buys Halina Reijn a glass of milk. Years later, on set, Halina has an embryo of an idea about power and sexuality. Incorporate the former anecdote into the latter concept, mix in Nicole Kidman, Harris Dickinson, and Antonio Banderas, add a splash of Hedda Gabler, bright reds, and a voyeuristic camera, and you get Babygirl. It’s a story about a powerful woman who discovers what occurs at the crux of the civilized and the animalistic with, why not, milk as a connective tissue.
Halina joins me via Zoom, her backdrop a typical New York kitchen, condensed and linear. She’s bubbly, open, kind, complimentary, and overall excited to dive into her process. She’s willing to look (American) taboos in the eye with a wide grin, shameless and ready to shed light on parts of ourselves we may wish to shun. To give you an idea, her first feature, made in the Netherlands, Instinct (2019), follows a psychologist who becomes infatuated with a sex offender. Her European sensibilities mean she’s keen to embrace suggestion, ambiguity, and the darker aspects of sexuality. Her welcoming personality invites you to feel comfortable accepting those desires.
Through all of her films, she wishes to explore “juicy parts for women in which they can explore all the different layers of themselves.”
Halina finishes editing Bodies Bodies Bodies, the writer/director’s first American feature for A24, she attends SXSW and moves on to spend the next year writing Babygirl. She first has to tackle a formidable question.
Harbor Post Production
Color Grade, Sound Mixing, Sound Design
Babygirl at Harbor
