Babygirl: “Unfaithful” Reimagined in a Corporate World

Babygirl, directed by Halina Reijn is about a high-powered CEO’s affair with her intern. The plot structure of Babygirl is a sub-set of the 2002 movie "Unfaithful." Instead of the domestic setting Babygirl transposes the narrative to a corporate office. The story replaces a housewife and an antiques dealer with a CEO and her intern.

1.The invisible plot structure of Babygirl

1A. The script of Babygirl borrows 91% of its events from 2 mythological tales

Romy’s quest is driven by the desire to explore and discover. The quest borrows events from the tale of Eve in Abrahamic mythology. Both Eve and Romy are unable to resist temptation.

Samuel’s quest is driven by the desire to dominate others. The quest borrows events from the tale of Circe in Greek mythology. Both Circe and Samuel take control of gullible victims.

Jacob has an underdeveloped quest of vengeance. Esme doesn’t have any quest.

Detailed mirroring of each character’s primary quest to their respective mythological tales is in section “3A. Quests of characters and their mythological counterparts”

1B. Babygirl’s unique plot structure extracted from our reservoir of infinite stories

Human beings are driven by 16 fundamental desires. Every desire, whether encountering fulfilment or unfulfillment, gives rise to two distinct quests. Thus, a spectrum of 32 unique quests mirrors every human desire.

We have discovered mythological tales from across civilizations that uniquely portray each one of these 32 human quests. While each mythological tale stands as a distinct quest, the true magic unfolds when these tales are combined. This synergy is evident in the epics of Odyssey and Ramayan, where various universal quests seamlessly intertwine.

Combining any five tales from the 32, generates a staggering 24 million unique story plots. Take it a step further, by combining six tales the possibilities explode to an astounding 600 million!

The plot of Babygirl is a subset of Mythosis plot structure #205 that interweaves the tales of Eve & Circe.

2. The potential of Babygirl's plot structure: $18 – 34MM

2A. Babygirl’s plot structure evaluation

The interweaving of 32 mythological tales creates a billion stories. We use these 32 tales to extract the plot structure of any story across genres. The study of plot structures across Blockbuster, Hit & Flop movies led to the discovery of storytelling principles. We developed Mythosis Code to see how well a story follows these principles.

All Blockbusters have at least 3 universal quests. Babygirl uses 1 universal quests of Curiosity. The quest of Power is sparingly used.
In Blockbusters, each universal quest is mirrored by ONLY ONE character. Romy mirrors the universal quest of Curiosity. Samuel mirrors the universal quest of Power.
Every Blockbuster character borrows at least 35% of the universal quest. Romy borrows 36% from the universal quest of Curiosity whereas Samuel borrows 10% from the quest of Power.
Blockbusters interweave different quests to create a tight plot structure. Interweaving occurs when events of 2 quests occur simultaneously in the story. Blockbusters have a quest interweaving threshold of 0.5. Babygirl’s quest interweaving score of 0.33 is below par. An example of interweaving the quests of Romy & Samuel:

2B. Estimating Babygirl’s revenue potential from its plot structure

The script of Babygirl relies on just one quest that severely limits its appeal.

We have created an algorithm by assigning weights to the principles of The Mythosis Code. This algorithm has an accuracy of 91% in predicting the lifetime revenue of a movie from its script. The algorithm calculates the potency of a story’s plot structure and estimates how many people will like the story. The number of people and current ticket prices gives us the box-office revenue.

Blockbuster plot structures have a score of at least 0.64 and appeal to 20% of the audiences. Babygirl has a script potential score is 0.02 and the movie will appeal to 0.51% - 0.62% of the population.

Our estimate of the movie's revenues from its script is $18 – 34MM in the domestic market.

3. The ideal plot structure of Babygirl

We have identified 32 mythological tales, the superset of all tales across cultures. The quests of these tales have also recurred over time periods. They represent human behaviours that are deeply embedded in our shared memories. Each tale is the richest expression of the pursuit of a human desire. The tales have a unique pattern of events spread over 5 major arcs.

Mapping a character’s quest to the relevant mythological tale reveals the gaps in their quest, if any. Plugging these gaps with the missing events deepens the character quest. The missing events also provide an opportunity for interweaving the various quests. These events strengthen the story and unlock its hidden potential.

3A. Quest of characters and their mythological counterparts

Quest 1: Romy mirrors the universal quest for Curiosity

Romy’s desire for Curiosity stems from the need to explore & discover. The tale of Eve from Abrahamic mythology is the universal quest for Curiosity.

Quest 2: Samuel mirrors the universal quest for Power

Samuel’s desire for Power stems from the need to dominate others. The tale of Circe from Greek mythology is the universal quest for Power.

3B. Gaps in the current plot structure

The plot structure of 2002 movie Unfaithful uses 3 universal quests of Curiosity, Power & Vengeance. Even though Babygirl reimagines the plot of Unfaithful in the corporate world, it fails to incorporate the quest of Vengeance.

Replacing it with another universal quest would have created a unique story.

Babygirl’s plot structure ends up being a poorer version of Unfaithful due to relying on a singular quest.

3C. Unlocking the hidden potential

The script of Unfaithful is a subset of Mythosis Plot structure #6,213. A pure re-imagination of its plot structure would have enhanced Babygirl’s revenues by ~5X!

However, the plot structure of Unfaithful hasn’t leveraged the full potential of the 3 quests. The hidden potential can be unlocked by borrowing missing events from the 3 universal quests.

Babygirl could have unlocked this hidden potential to enhance its revenues by ~17X!

Tags: Babygirl, Character development, Long range prediction, Mythology, Plot Structure, storytelling