As Monty Python might say, “And now for something completely different.” On Monday’s edition of her PBS show that originally airs on CNN International, Christiane Amanpour welcomed Babygirl director Halina Reijn to discuss the film and its place in society. As Reijn tried to claim that discussions of the difference between male and female orgasms and post-menopausal sexuality are the next stage of feminism akin to winning the right to vote, Amanpour used it and other works surrounding extra-marital affairs to promote older women “claiming their sexuality.”
Babygirl is a movie that gives itself the tagline “A high-powered CEO puts her career and family on the line when she begins a torrid affair with her much-younger intern.” During both the interview with Amanpour and the movie itself, Reijn portrays the power dynamics of that as male-dominated.
Later, Amanpour asked, “Halina, talk about the bigger picture. Because frankly, there's a lot of reporting, of storytelling in documentary, in real-life, as well as in the world of culture about younger women claiming—sorry, older women claiming their personhood, claiming their sexuality, even post-menopausal women. Look at Miranda July's recent book, On All Fours, and a lot of the, frankly, parts that Nicole Kidman has played over the last couple of years. What's going on, in your view, in society around women of a certain age?”
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