Playing It by Ear in Halina Reijn’s <i>Babygirl</i>

Halina Reijn’s film Babygirl (2024) explores the problem of “role-work,” wherein a subject’s personal expression and ideological beliefs are recast as performance of labor, resulting in a specific form of neoliberal alienation. Despite the film’s sadomasochistic seduction plot, filled with steamy sex scenes designed to appeal to the gaze, Reijn’s film demands attention to the auditory, retraining its audience to discern the difference between performed displays of desire and feminist political virtue, and authentic expressions of need and identification. This discernment opens up possibilities for “role-play” which allows neoliberal subjects to reconcile themselves with forbidden desires in ethically and emotionally positive ways.