Nicole Kidman stars in the intentionally provocative “Babygirl,” a sexual study with a sense of humor about its delicate subject. It opens in theaters Christmas Day.

Kidman’s Romy is introduced in the throes of marital bliss with her husband (Antonio Banderas). Once their lovemaking ends, he sleeps while Romy secretly scurries off to the library where she watches an S&M movie.

Only this way, we discover, is she able to achieve orgasm – a fact she’s hidden from her theater director husband through their entire marriage.

Romy is super successful, the CEO of her company, a national figure. So when a new, decades younger intern (England’s Harris Dickinson, “The Triangle of Sadness”) initiates a power game and achieves sexual dominance in their forbidden relationship, Romy looks to be heading for self-destruction.

“This film is obviously about sex,” Kidman, 57, noted, adding that it also covers: “Desire, secrets, marriage. Truth, power, consent.”

A commanding role with a commanding performance, Kidman was named best actress after its Venice Film Festival world premiere last October. She is in the 2025 mix for what would be her sixth Oscar nomination .

“This is one woman’s story,” Kidman emphasized, “and I hope a very liberating story, told by a woman” — Dutch writer-director Halina Reijn – “through her gaze, which mirrors the script.”

In the last decade Kidman has made a point of using her clout to support female filmmakers, working with no less than 15 in the last seven years.

Said Reijn, “It’s a film about a woman in an existential crisis. And it has many layers.”

Does Kidman view “Babygirl” as unofficially linked with “Big Little Lies,” the HBO series where she scored as a wife trapped in an abusive relationship? Is this a positive version of an S&M relationship?

“I don’t think there’s a judgment attached here,” she said. “It’s best for each person who sees the film to follow their own interpretation.

“My connection to this is to be human. And in all the facets of that to be realized. It’s actually very different (from ‘Lies’). But this is a woman definitely exposed and vulnerable and frightened, all of those things.”

Earlier in her career Reijn worked with Paul Verhoeven, the formidable Dutch filmmaker (“Showgirls,” “Basic Instinct,” “Robocop”), on “Black Book” a WWII feminist thriller about the Dutch underground.

“I wanted to do something in that space. But very much from a ‘female gaze.’ That doesn’t mean,” she said, “that this film is not also about masculinity. It’s femininity, masculinity, power, control, all those different things.

“For me, at the core is the question: Can I love myself in all my different layers? I hope it will function as a tribute to self-worth and liberation.”

“Babygirl” opens Dec. 25