Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson brought eroticism back to Venice Friday night at the premiere of Dutch director Halina Reijn’s kinky thriller, Babygirl. (Her second English-speaking film after Bodies Bodies Bodies).

Kidman plays a tightly wound high-powered CEO who starts a secret affair with her new, much younger intern (Dickinson), finding liberation by acting on her repressed desires.

While not a conventional art house movie, Babygirl stimulated the Venice audience. As the end credits rolled at the Sala Grande Theatre, the crowd erupted into a 6.5-minute standing ovation.

As the audience cheered, Kidman hugged Reijn and beamed and blushed at all the attention.

Babygirl seemed to crank up the heat even more as the movie got underway. Kidman’s character Romy pushes the envelope in a game of sexual domination with Dickinson’s Samuel.

At the 2004 edition, Kidman starred in Jonathan Glazer’s psychological drama Birth, which sparked controversy (and boos)  over a scene in which she shared a bath with a boy of 10, played by Cameron Bright.

At the Venice press conference for Birth she address the controversy: “It wasn’t that I wanted to make a film where I kiss a 10-year-old boy. I wanted to make a film where you understand love.”