I don’t know what I was thinking when I added this to my list because films about BDSM rarely turn out to be very deep, no matter what the makers say. In this case it stars Nicole Kidman who makes a big deal about preferring to work with female directors and this was indeed directed and written by a woman Halina Reijin. The great innovation of this film is that it flips the script so that while the woman remains the submissive in the relationship, in real life she is the older and more powerful of the two. It’s interesting for a while but I had a hard time buying the plausibility of the character and the director flubs some key moments so badly that I just can’t take the film seriously.

At the age of 49, Romy Mathis is a woman at the top of the corporate world, being the CEO of a hot new company working on robotic automation. She is married to successful playwright Jacob and they have two children together, with luxurious houses both in the countryside and in the city. Yet there is a secret side to her as she has always fantasized about having rough sex in a submissive role. She has never been able to orgasm while having sex with Jacob and masturbates instead while watching porn. One day outside her office building, she is nearly attacked by a dog that has slipped its leash. A young man intervenes and commands the dog to heel as Romy watches in fascination. Later she discovers that the man Samuel is one of the new interns. He has an irreverent attitude towards her and seems to sense her hidden submissive nature, asking her to do minor chores. He applies for her to his mentor through the company’s internal program. She tries to refuse him but in a private meeting impulsively kisses him. They begin to have an affair in hotel rooms with Samuel acting as her dominant partner. At one point she worries about the ethics of her being his superior at work but he points that he is the one with power over her as revealing the affair would lead to her losing everything.

Films about BDSM relationships are hardly anything new and it isn’t obvious that we need more even if many of these are barely more substantial than soft porn. This one in particular is instantly worthy of attention both because of its star-studded cast and the impeccable feminist credentials of Kidman and Reijin. Its core idea that a woman with a solid marriage and a high-flying career, can still be in denial of her true sexuality well into middle-age. She does know what turns her on but has spent her entire life suppressing that part of herself and has even tried to cure it through therapy. Then one day she meets a confident young man with serial killer vibes and it all comes pouring out uncontrollably. It’s not a bad concept on paper, except the execution is terrible on multiple levels. For starters, if they wanted a husband who is too gentle and loving to degrade Romy in the way that she wants, they probably shouldn’t have cast Antonio Banderas in the role. Then if they wanted to husband to be genuinely shocked that she is into rough sex, they shouldn’t have made him a playwright. It’s laughable that a creator like Jacob who works with artists from all over the world would be utterly clueless about the wide breadth of sexual preferences and practices.

The characterization of Romy herself is just as bad. She’s supposed to be the CEO of a major corporation but I suspect Reijin has little idea of what the day-to-day routines of real CEOs are like. Her work seems to consist of conference calls and public presentations. Despite her being the head of a tech company, we never see her in the presence of the devices her company sells. She doesn’t talk shop with engineers, isn’t trailed by an entourage of staff everywhere constantly giving instructions to them, and is never even seen jetting here and there talking to suppliers and customers. She in fact looks like a figurehead who is out of her depth, the opposite of what the film calls for. To preserve the film’s feminist credentials and ensure that Romy’s status as a powerful woman is intact, she is given a happy ending anyway without having to do anything herself. Jacob and Samuel basically reconcile of their own accord while she looks on helplessly and her assistant of all people, persuades her of how important it is for a feminist icon to publicly appear impeachable despite her flaws and mistakes.

This is all absolutely bonkers and infuriating to me. Nothing about the character makes sense at all. Are we to believe that a woman who has lived to the age of 50, climbed to the top of the corporate ladder, has a wide social circle and has met all kinds of people, could be as sheltered and naive about sex as Romy seemingly is? Sure that some people are into BDSM shouldn’t be shameful and it is possible that someone can come into the lifestyle late in life. But does that forgive their cheating and lying? How is any of that supposed to be feminist or empowering for women? The core idea behind this premise might well be worth exploring but this film makes a total hash of it.