7 best Nicole Kidman movies, ranked
Nicole Kidman is a performer who always keeps you guessing — just look at her 2024 filmography for proof. It’s dotted with soapy familial mysteries (“The Perfect Couple”) and Zac Efron rom-coms (“A Family Affair”) for Netflix; the animated fantasy-musical “Spellbound,” for the kids; the Lulu Wang-directed drama miniseries “Expats” on Prime Video; and, most interesting of them all, Halina Reijn’s upcoming “Babygirl,” seemingly for those missing the ‘90s heyday of pulpy erotic thrillers.
In the latter title, Kidman is being praised for her turn as a high-powered CEO whose world is upended when she strikes a torrid affair with a captivating, and much younger, intern (Harris Dickinson). It’s certainly not the actress’s first foray into the erotic thriller genre (“Eyes Wide Shut”, anyone?) and it’s far from her first mention in awards conversation. Across her three-decade career, the Aussie star has been nominated for five Oscars and — counting her most recent nod for “Babygirl” — a staggering 20 Golden Globe awards, second to only Meryl Streep herself.
With “Babygirl” hitting theaters on Dec. 25, we ranked the seven best Nicole Kidman movies.
7. ‘Rabbit Hole’
Raw and riveting as a mother in grief, the 2010 John Cameron Mitchell-directed drama “Rabbit Hole” earned Nicole Kidman an Academy Award nomination for her performance as one-half of a couple (alongside Aaron Eckhart) coping with the tragic loss of their 4-year-old son. It can be a painful watch, no doubt, but Kidman is astonishing as her character Becca Corbett, who balances that profound, consuming sorrow and understandable resentment with the heart-crushing charade of pretending that life moves on.
►Rent/buy on Amazon
6. ‘To Die For’
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Kidman may be one of the most illustrious dramatic actresses in show business, but that doesn’t mean she shies away from comedy. Her Golden Globe-winning role as glamorous wannabe TV star Suzanne Stone in the 1995 Gus Van Sant satire “To Die For” showcased the real-life performer’s sharp timing and broad comedy skills. Kidman’s Suzanne is a woman hilariously defined by camera-ready perkiness and irredeemable ruthlessness, and the actress is mesmerizing and magnetic through every murderous moment of it.
►Rent/buy on Amazon
5. ‘The Hours’
Talk about a powerhouse acting trio: Nicole Kidman is joined by Julianne Moore and Meryl Streep in this 2002 psychological period-drama film directed by Stephen Daldry, which sees the actresses as three women whose lives are connected by the Virginia Woolf novel “Mrs Dalloway.” Beneath a prosthetic nose, Kidman plays the famed author in the early 1920s and though she has the least amount of screentime compared to her splashy costars, she makes the most of those minutes, scoring her first Best Actress Oscar for her embodiment of Woolf’s innate intelligence and growing unease.
►Stream on Paramount Plus
4. ‘Birth’
Wringing pathos out of a provocative and at times preposterous script co-written by director Jonathan Glazer, Kidman has a haunting vulnerability as Anna, a widow who is convinced that her deceased husband has been reincarnated as a 10-year-old boy (played by Cameron Bright). The actress adeptly offers up just the right amount of sensitivity, skepticism and sad self-delusion to offset any sensationalism found in this pseudo ghost story, earning herself a Golden Globe nod along the way.
►Rent/buy on Amazon
3. ‘Eyes Wide Shut’
The final film of Stanley Kubrick, this steamy psychological drama sees Nicole Kidman and her then-husband Tom Cruise slink around a world powered by both desire and dread. Kidman is fearless as Alice Harford, a New York housewife who unsettles her spouse with her long-simmering fantasies of sleeping with another man. Fierce and frustrated, Alice’s marijuana-driven monologue is more than just a catalyst for her husband’s descent into depravity — it’s a reminder to never take Alice, or Kidman herself, for granted.
►Stream on Hulu
2. ‘The Others’
Two of Kidman’s most iconic performances occurred in the same year — along with our No. 1 pick (more on that in a moment) is this elegant and spooky 2001 thriller from Alejandro Amenábar, which has the actress chillingly assume the role of gothic heroine. Elevating your usual bumps-in-the-night horror story, Kidman is ghastly good as Grace, a World War II–era widow raising two young photosensitive children in a remote, shrouded manor and increasingly doubting her own perceptions as mysterious visions begin to haunt their world.
►Rent/buy on Amazon
1. ‘Moulin Rouge’
Out of all of her famed roles (and as you can see from this list, that’s saying something), Nicole Kidman as cabaret courtesan Satine in Baz Luhrmann “Moulin Rouge” might just be the one the star is most remembered for. As spirited and sensational as the song-and-dance spectacle surrounding her, the Australian actress earned her first-ever Oscar nomination for her swoon-worthy work opposite Ewan McGregor as Scottish poet Christian. Kidman pitch-perfectly hits every beat required of her, making Satine coquettish and charismatic in one moment and fragile and fearful in the next. It’s the performance of a lifetime.
►Stream on Disney Plus
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