Angelina Jolie was joined by her three eldest children, Maddox, Zahara, and Pax, at the NYFF premiere of Pablo Larraín’s Maria this weekend. Just as it was in Venice, the film was met with mixed to warm reviews, but critics seem to agree that this is an extraordinary performance by Angelina which some are saying is a career-best. Which, of course, is why she’s in the Oscar conversation. 

 

As Sarah and I have said repeatedly though, the Best Actress race is super competitive this year. And, of course, Angelina, even with her pedigree, isn’t exactly a Hollywood insider. She doesn’t hang out with the Reese Witherspoons and the Gwyneth Paltrows, she’s not a dinner party regular with the actual A-list housewives of Beverly Hills. So it’ll be interesting to see who, if anyone, pulls up for her during award season, when there’s a screening every night and/or a party hosted by a XYZ celebrity stumping for their friend. 

 

Angelina wore a vintage Madame Grès dress on the carpet in New York. According to W Magazine, the gown “is dated to 1956—during the height of Grès’s prowess. Known as the “queen of drapery,” Grès’s use of fluid fabrics and sculptural draping came to define post-war Paris”. Angelina sourced the piece herself from Mon Vintage in Paris. I appreciate the craft in the dress, and to me it looks much better from the side, where you can see the draped panels, the exquisite details in the fabric, and just how well constructed it is. From the front I think it loses some of that effect but overall I like the choice because it does evoke a time and a place from where Angelina is basing her performance as Maria Callas. And, as I said last week, I’m looking forward to seeing where she goes with her fashion as we get deeper in the race. 

 

It is a tight race though, stacked with 90s queens, and here’s another contender – Nicole Kidman in Paris for Balenciaga, the fashion house she’s most closely associated with these days. 

I chose that video specifically because you can see Jason Bolden (in the tan trench), Nicole’s stylist, moving her hair back and continuing to make adjustments during her arrival. I’ve written several times this year about the difference Jason has made this year with Nicole’s looks. And it’s not like Nicole Kidman wa a fashion flop before he came on the scene – obviously not. But this might be an even higher degree of difficulty, what he’s achieving. Because it takes real f-cking skill to take someone from 100% to 120%. 

 

Nicole of course is in the Oscar mix for her work in Babygirl, coming out on Christmas Day. How’s that for counterprogramming. You can either choose to take your kids to whatever family movies are playing at the multiplex at Christmas. Or… you can go see Nicole Kidman as a powerful CEO getting dicked down by an intern. 

I had a great interview with Babygirl director Halina Reijn at TIFF. We talked about how she didn’t want to make a derivative “girl boss” movie about sex and desire and instead wanted to tell a story about how complicated female desire can be, but mostly that there should be no shame in our desires, whatever they might be. Which is also why, while Babygirl definitely inspires a lot of discussion about women, sex, pleasure, and power, the film is also delightfully horny. Horny in a way that isn’t supposed to feel bad. Horny in a way that is meant to get you off but also get you thinking. I told Halina that the group chat is going to blow up once people see the movie – and I look forward to more of you experiencing this with the people you group chat with. If the group chat, of course, is safe for you. The group chat is where I can freely get dirty AF with my friends and I am already anticipating the filth that is coming for Babygirl Christmas. 

 

Here's the trailer that just dropped today and I’m delighted to report that they did what they needed to do with this preview. This is exactly the right tone, titillation, anticipation, and… holiday, LOLOLOL. What we’re all getting for Christmas is HORNY. Don’t know about you but that’s the gift I asked for.