Nicole Kidman Picks Her Top Five Films—And Why They Matter

Nicole Kidman’s filmography is nothing short of massive, with nearly a hundred roles under her belt. From the outlandish world of Aquaman to the whimsical charm of Practical Magic, she’s covered a fair bit of ground. Most recently, she returned to the unsettling territory of Eyes Wide Shut with 2024’s Babygirl, starring alongside Harris Dickinson. In Babygirl, Kidman plays a high-powered CEO who finds herself entangled in a risky relationship with a much younger colleague. She described the experience as a “quest to examine humanity”, pushing herself to deliver a performance marked by “radical honesty”. Whether she’s pondering over a glass of milk that’s more than it seems or wandering through a rundown holiday house in a fog of sadness, Kidman always seems to grasp the deeper meaning behind the scenes she’s in.

This knack for choosing challenging roles has been a constant throughout her career. She’s often drawn to scripts that dig into the messier parts of being human, exploring them in detail. With such a long list of credits, it’s a fair question to ask: where would you even start if you wanted to get a sense of her best work? Luckily, Kidman’s been asked to pick her own favourites before. When The Film Experience put her on the spot, asking which of her films she holds closest, she laughed and replied,

“Wow.”

After a moment, she named three in quick succession:

“Probably Moulin Rouge! and The Others and The Hours. And it’s so weird because I did all of them back to back.”

It’s a trio that marked a turning point in her career, a bit like a run of top tracks on a classic album.

Exploring Grief and Loss

Moving beyond the early 2000s, when her fame was at its peak and she was recognised everywhere, Kidman offered another pick: Rabbit Hole. She explained,

“Probably Rabbit Hole because that says so much about grief.”

In this 2010 drama, Kidman plays Becca Corbett, a mother grappling with the accidental death of her young son. The film follows Becca and her husband as they try to navigate their loss, each coping in their own way. Kidman’s performance is raw and affecting, capturing the confusion and pain of grief. She reflected further,

“That seems to be something that I’ve circled around; I try to circle around subjects and for some reason, loss and grief, I circle around it in many different forms.”

Unusual Collaborations and Memorable Moments

For her fifth and final choice, Kidman mentioned her work with director Jonathan Glazer on Birth. She mused,

“I also loved working with Jonathan Glazer in Birth. Whether the film actually works as a whole, I don’t know, but I think there are some really great moments in that film, and I think he’s got greatness in him.”

Birth is a strange one: Kidman’s character loses her husband, and a decade later, a ten-year-old boy appears, claiming to be her late husband reincarnated. It’s a film that’s as odd as it is intriguing, and Kidman’s performance stands out for its subtlety and depth.