---
name: "Halina Reijn"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/halina-reijn"
fi1m_id: "halina-reijn"
imdb_id: "nm0717603"
tmdb_id: 39847
wikidata_id: "Q540456"
roles: ["Producer","Director"]
born: "10 November 1975"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 3
average_as: "producer"
average_over: 0
updated: "2026-10-01T19:01:20.146648+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Halina Reijn

## Identity

Halina Reijn

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/halina-reijn
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** halina-reijn
- **IMDb ID:** nm0717603
- **TMDB ID:** 39847
- **Wikidata ID:** Q540456
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halina_Reijn, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q540456, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0717603/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/39847

Producer and director. Born 10 November 1975 in Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.

## Details

- **Work:** Producer, Director
- **Born:** 10 November 1975, Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands
- **Active:** 2006–present
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 3: 1 acting, 1 directing, 1 other
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 2000s 80 (1), 2020s 68 (2)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halina_Reijn, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q540456, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0717603/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/39847

## Coming up

- *Please* (2027-11-18), Writer

## Streaming the US now

- **Tubi:** [*Black Book*](https://film.one/film/black-book.md) (80)
- **HBO Max:** [*Babygirl*](https://film.one/film/babygirl.md) (73)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Halina Reijn

> Halina Reijn makes films about people who want something they are ashamed of, and then declines to punish them for it. The results so far are sharp, well acted and a little safer than they pretend to be. We rate her, with that caveat.

Nicole Kidman gets down on a hotel room floor because an intern has told her to, and the camera does not cut. That is the moment in *Babygirl* (2024) that tells you what Halina Reijn is for. Most directors would have gone in close on the humiliation or away from it altogether. Reijn holds, and watches a woman stop performing. We were embarrassed for Romy, hands nearly over our eyes, and then we were not, and the switch happened in Kidman's face without any help from the edit.

Reijn spent more than twenty years in front of the camera and on stage before she went behind it. She was a stage actress in the Netherlands with Toneelgroep Amsterdam under Ivo van Hove, and she appeared in Paul Verhoeven's *Black Book* (2006). Around 2019 she stopped acting and made *Instinct*, a Dutch-language drama about a prison therapist and a sex offender, which she wrote, directed and produced. *Bodies Bodies Bodies* (2022) was her first film in English, a comedy hiding inside a slasher. *Babygirl* is her second, and the one we have reviewed, and it is the first to put her ideas about sex and power in front of a wide audience.

The ideas are consistent. Reijn is interested in the gap between how people behave at the dinner table and what they want when nobody is looking, and she keeps asking the question from the woman's side. She has said she grew up on the erotic thrillers of the 1990s and noticed that the woman usually got punished at the end. Of *Babygirl* she said: "This film is my answer, my female answer, to those films." In the film it shows. Romy is a chief executive who has never once said what she wants in bed. Reijn lets her say it, and nobody dies.

What works is the acting, which is where the theatre years earn their keep. She gets Kidman to do the least protected work she has done in a long time, and she shoots it without a flicker of judgement. Jasper Wolf has photographed all three of her features, and what he gives her is a camera that stays on a face long after a more nervous director would have moved on. What works less well is the softness. The genre Reijn is answering was cruel, and part of the point of answering it would be to keep some of the cruelty and aim it somewhere new. *Babygirl* is kinder to everyone in it than its models ever were, and we were not always sure the kindness was earned. It is a good film and a safe one.

Three features is early days, and the first of them is a film we have not reviewed and will not judge here. But the shape is clear: a director who can hold a camera on a shamed face until the shame turns into something else, and who has not yet let that face pay for it. The next one should be less careful. She has the actors for it.

## Biography

Halina Reijn is a Dutch director, writer and former actress. Born in Amsterdam in 1975, she trained at the Maastricht Academy of Dramatic Arts and began her career on stage in the 1990s before appearing in films such as *Black Book* (2006) and *Valkyrie* (2008).

She made her feature directorial debut with *Instinct* (2019), which she also wrote. Her subsequent films are the English-language features *Bodies Bodies Bodies* (2022) and *Babygirl* (2024), the latter of which she wrote and produced.

*Sources: imdb.com, en.wikipedia.org, vogue.com.au.*

## On Fi1m (3)

### Performed in (1)

- *Black Book* (2006), Fi1m 80, as Ronnie — [page](https://film.one/film/black-book.md)

### Directed (1)

- *Babygirl* (2024), Fi1m 73, Writer, Director, Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/babygirl.md)

### Also credited (1) — thanks, archive footage, uncredited

- *Materialists* (2025), Fi1m 63, Thanks — [page](https://film.one/film/materialists.md)

## Complete filmography (56)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Please* (2027), Writer, Director, Producer
- *Materialists* (2025), Thanks — Fi1m 63, [page](https://film.one/film/materialists.md)
- *Babygirl* (2024), Writer, Producer, Director — Fi1m 73, [page](https://film.one/film/babygirl.md)
- *Bodies Bodies Bodies* (2022), Director
- *Red Light* (2020), series, as Esther Vinkel · Scenario Writer, Creator
- *Instinct* (2019), Story, Director
- *Conspiracy of Silence* (2018), series, as Maggie Van Haal
- *Love Revisited* (2017), as Tess
- *National Theatre Live: Obsession* (2017), as Hanna
- *De Zevende Hemel* (2016), as Eva
- *Boy 7* (2016), as Marit
- *The Student* (2015), as Lana
- *The Student 2015* (2015), as Lana
- *Aan Tafel: achter de schermen van De Wereld Draait Door* (2015), Actor
- *Bagels & Bubbels* (2015), series, as Vanessa Kremer
- *Gift from the Heart* (2014), as Karin
- *Tour de Force* (2014), as Kassiererin
- *Feuten: Het Feestje* (2013), as Femke
- *Goltzius & the Pelican Company* (2012), as Portia
- *De Overloper* (2012), as Hannie de Groot
- *Isabelle* (2011), as Isabelle
- *Godforsaken True Killers* (2011), series, as Nadia
- *The Dinner Club* (2010), as Hanneke Lemstra
- *Sintel* (2010), as Sintel (voice)
- *Sterke Verhalen* (2010), as Hostess
- *In therapie* (2010), series, Actor
- *Win/Win* (2010), as Deniz
- *Toneel op 2* (2009), series, Actor
- *Valkyrie* (2008), as Margarethe Van Oven
- *De Prins en het Meisje* (2007), as Mabel Wisse Smit
- *Nadine* (2007), as Nadine
- *Blind* (2007), as Marie Tinne
- *For a Few Marbles More* (2006), Actor
- *Black Book* (2006), as Ronnie — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/film/black-book.md)
- *A Thousand Kisses* (2006), as Lureen
- *Masterclass* (2005), as Actrice 2
- *Father's Affair* (2003), as Ellen
- *Polleke* (2003), as Tina
- *Grimm* (2003), as Marie
- *Maxima's Miracle* (2003), as Hostess Patty
- *Boy Ecury* (2003), as Ewoud's vriendin
- *Moonlight* (2002), as crazy woman in car
- *Intensive Care* (2002), series, as Michelle
- *Zus & Zo* (2002), as Bo Mendes
- *Villa Des Roses* (2002), as Natsje
- *Flicka* (2002), as Flicka
- *Acteurs, De* (2001), series, Actor
- *Floating Island* (2001), as Isa
- *the Detour* (2000), Actor
- *The 18.10 Train* (1999), as Meike Volders
- *Suzy Q* (1999), as Prostitue
- *Unit 13* (1996), series, as Anne-Marie Ruyter
- *Fort Alpha* (1996), series, Actor
- *Baantjer* (1995), series, as Anna
- *Coverstory* (1993), series, Actor
- *For better and for worse* (1991), series, Actor

## Gallery

- ![David Hinojosa and Halina Reijn, producer and writer-director respectively, at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival](https://film.one/media/person/10114/gallery-0d5987dcbbf7.jpg) David Hinojosa and Halina Reijn, producer and writer-director respectively, at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival — John Sears, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/64/David_Hinojosa_and_Halina_Reijn_at_the_2024_Toronto_International_Film_Festival.jpg/1280px-David_Hinojosa_and_Halina_Reijn_at_the_2024_Toronto_International_Film_Festival.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![David Hinojosa and Halina Reijn, producer and writer-director respectively, at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival](https://film.one/media/person/10114/gallery-797bc8501a07.jpg) David Hinojosa and Halina Reijn, producer and writer-director respectively, at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival — John Sears, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/67/David_Hinojosa_and_Halina_Reijn_at_the_2024_Toronto_International_Film_Festival_2.jpg/1280px-David_Hinojosa_and_Halina_Reijn_at_the_2024_Toronto_International_Film_Festival_2.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Halina Reijn (Amsterdam, 10 november 1975) is een Nederlands actrice en schrijfster. Ze is opgegroeid in Wildervank, Groningen en woont in Amsterdam.](https://film.one/media/person/10114/gallery-70834491f521.jpg) Halina Reijn (Amsterdam, 10 november 1975) is een Nederlands actrice en schrijfster. Ze is opgegroeid in Wildervank, Groningen en woont in Amsterdam. — nummer19 management, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b1/Halina-reijn.jpg/1280px-Halina-reijn.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Film director Halina Reijn at the 81st Venice International Film Festival (2024)](https://film.one/media/person/10114/gallery-bb5f3b3aea93.jpg) Film director Halina Reijn at the 81st Venice International Film Festival (2024) — Harald Krichel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/90/Halina_Reijn-66123.jpg/1280px-Halina_Reijn-66123.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Halina Reijn](https://film.one/media/person/10114/gallery-7c8d9c7aed20.jpg) Halina Reijn — Harald Krichel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/da/Halina_Reijn-66123_%28cropped%29.jpg/1280px-Halina_Reijn-66123_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

## Awards

### Other awards — 4 won, 1 nominated

- European Film Award for European Discovery of the Year 2020: European Film Award for European Discovery of the Year (nominated), for *Instinct*
- Courbois-parel 2013: Courbois-parel (won)
- Theo d'Or 2013: Theo d'Or (won)
- Golden Calf Special Jury Prize 2007: Golden Calf Special Jury Prize (won)
- Colombina 1998: Colombina (won)

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/halina-reijn