What do you get the female chief executive who has everything? How about an insolently sexy intern with whom to embark on a dangerous affair and work through a kink cliche checklist? Even better, you could string together racy titillation and boardroom sexual shenanigans as a banal musical montage.

For a film that strives so painfully and obviously to be provocative and risque, Babygirl, which stars Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson as the two players in a high-stakes sexual power game, feels more synthetic and mannered than spontaneous and transgressive. For all its silky shots of tantalising erotic ecstasy and Kidman’s gorgeously luxe wardrobe, it’s ploddingly predictable stuff – this is, coincidentally, one of two films released this week with essentially the same storyline. It’s a brave, exposed performance from Kidman, but her character, Romy, is a thinly written collection of urges rather than a fully fleshed-out character; Dickinson, meanwhile, coasts on his not inconsiderable charm.

• In UK and Irish cinemas