Spoilers, including the ending, follow for the film Little girl.

Was there a time in my life before I saw Harris Dickinson swinging those lanky limbs and tattooed body toward the bombastic, celestial, and undeniably sexy “father figure”? I’m sure there must have been some. But I like Nicole Kidman Holder “baby girl” ruining her life for this man after seeing him calm an angry dog, I am captivated. I’m transfixed. I watched it again and again lost white boyrising British publishing streak too often. Samuel starts listening to George Michael’s most iconic song: THE scene in Little girl because of the way it cleverly plays with seduction, gender roles and sexual power.

Little girl is at its best when it gives free rein to its characters’ desires — as in the “Father Figure” scene, which communicates everything we need to know about how CEO Romy Mathis (Kidman) and her intern Samuel (Dickinson ) address this matter. When it begins, Romy has already undressed in front of Samuel at his request, knelt down to perform oral sex (off-screen), and Dickinson tells her in her raspy, flat whisper with an American accent: “You you are my little girl. Until now, it is she who is submissive; they both play a role, but Romy’s is usually that of the performer, doing what Samuel asks and being rewarded with his attention and a steady flow of milk. But when the first note of “Father Figure” hits, their dynamic changes. It is now Samuel who plays for Romy, a reversal that gives us a raw and vulnerable insight into Samuel’s perception – an insight that tells us that he is authentically a damn. And we can all benefit from it.

First, the harsh editing: Samuel in a medium shot, shirtless, alone in the frame, while the first staccato notes and the percussive synth line appear. Then, the long shot: he has a crystal-cut glass of brown liquor in his hand (that’s the key) as he bumps to the beat of the music. His gold chain (also key) is on, his shirt is off and his tattoos are outand when he swings, we see them fully for the first time. (For Dickinson newbies, he played a hacker deeply rooted in A murder at the end of the worldduring which he persuades Emma Corrin to sing along to Annie Lennox’s “No More ‘I Love You’s”. It’s pretty cute.) As Samuel walks towards the camera, the Old English text KES on his upper right arm and a gigantic snake with an open mouth on his left come into focus. The little scratchy symbols on his fingers become more distinct as he takes another sip of his drink and waves his hand in front of his face. And the piece de resistance on his right ribcage: a winged cherub in a black balaclava mask wielding a machine gun, a fantastically fucked-up image that appears to be flying as he twirls, rolls, shimmers and dives.

Little girl isn’t particularly interested in providing backstories for its central characters. Romy and Samuel’s characterization is just thin enough to be distracting whenever director and screenwriter Halina Reijn throws in some details: Romy was raised in a cult and maybe that’s why she likes erotic scenarios where she abandons the control – okay? Samuel fears being self-destructive – I mean, obviously? Romy’s husband Jacob (Antonio Banderas) hates his wife’s various flowery aprons – well, man, I don’t see you making your daughters’ lunches! But Samuel’s tattoos, and especially this cherub (which is actually one of Harrison’s, along with the snake, the finger tattoos and the KES, inspired by Ken Loach(the magnificent film of the same name), tells us everything we will need. It is a sign of his youth and his impetuosity, his nihilism and his menace. He’s declarative and ready to strike, yet free and comfortable in his own body in a way that Romy never is.

All these layers make this scene thorny and barbed. It is Magic Mike XXL while Samuel twists and grinds; It is The bodyguard when he lifts and carries Romy in his arms; it is a fantasy that emphasizes the eroticism of being taken over by another person’s willing body. As Romy sits regally in a throne-like chair and watches him do this little Chippendales routine for her, she seems to be the one in control of their dynamic now. But as someone who exposes herself to consumption, Samuel also has the power to decide what she sees and how she sees it. Consider the opening lines of “Father Figure”: “That’s all I wanted/Something special, something sacred/In your eyes/For a moment/To be bold and naked/By your side.” » Romy and Samuel are the most open and naked here when it comes to what they expect from each other: to be adored and to be cared for.

This sexual idyll cannot of course last. Samuel and Romy will each be harassed; his girlfriend, who happens to be Romy’s assistant, is going to blackmail her; Romy will confess a heavily edited version of the affair to her husband Jacob. (She apparently forgets that her and Samuel’s password was his name, the funniest detail in the film.) But for the duration of “Father Figure,” Little girl gives us the familiar version of this story, the one where an ’80s needle drop accompanies a bad boy rampaging through his skin. There is comfort in gratitude and pleasure in anointing a new dad (especially one with such a perfectly illustrative tattoo). Fire, Harris!