Baise Moi (2000)

Studio: Remstar

DVD Release Date: November 22, 2005

Directed By: Virginie Despentes, Coralie Trinh Thi

Cast: Karen Lancaume (as Karen Bach), Raffaëla Anderson

Brutal As Hell Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Review By: Marc Patterson

 “Baise Moi” translates quite literally into “Rape Me”.  That’s powerful without needing anything further said.  Based on the title alone you’re either going to be curious enough to pick the film up, or repulsed enough to simply pass along.  So graphic is the simple title that the film has been given no English title.  Thank god our American, English speaking asses find no need to give any attention to studying foreign languages.  At least because of that the film can sit on our store shelves without any more regard given to it than any of the other foreign films. 

The story that takes place here is not completely unfamiliar to many of us.  Two women, pushed over the edge, break off social binds and rage like you’ve never seen before.  On the most superficial level you might even say it’s slightly reminiscent of Thelma and Louise.  Make that comparison again though and you’re likely to get a jolting slap in the face though.  These broads aren’t anywhere in that ballpark.  Hell, they’re not even playing the same sport.  Candidly, they aren’t playing at all. 

Nadine (Karen Bach) is a prostitute who witnesses a close friend being killed.  She snaps and kills her roommate, who is constantly berating her.  Manu (Raffaëla Anderson) has become the victim of a gang bang.  With a great deal of aggression built up as a result she snaps and taking her boyfriends gun and puts a bullet through his head.  The women cross paths by chance as they are both now on the run.  What ensues is a veritable nightmare of destruction, rage, and retribution as they unleash a whirlwind of contempt on a world that has marginalized them.

Initially when I heard of Baise Moi I paid it no mind.  To me it sounded like another over-hyped wanna-be art house film that reveled in sexual depravity and violence, while proclaiming itself artistic on the level of some kind of feminist manifesto.  Not that I have something against films like that, but I’ve seen quite a bit of them, and admittedly find that I come by the subject with a marked level of skepticism.  Very few filmmakers have dealt with the subject matter intelligently and effectively enough to deliver anything above exploitation cinema.  I would much rather you come out and just call yourself “exploitation”.  At least then you’d be honest. 

Given that to be the case, I nonetheless agreed to sit down and give this film an honest viewing.  Upon popping the disc in I thought I was just launched into a full on porn. The menu soundtrack was the same as that from a low budget porno.  Disappointment set in quickly.  But whatever.  I’m up for a good roasting anytime.  So, snarky comments at the ready I hit play. 

As the film began to play out something amazing started to happen.  The dialogue kicked in and burst the film wide open.  What I was reading (subtitles folks) was great script.  It probably didn’t hurt that writer and director Virginie Despentes was also the same woman who wrote the novel that preceded the film.  What was that you say?  A woman wrote and directed this film?  Yeah, two of them actually.  I digress though.  Going back to the film – What I was seeing wasn’t half bad acting and I was starting to genuinely get pulled in to what was going on.

Given the title and subject matter I knew I was in for some graphic sexual action, but didn’t really know what to expect from that.  Often DVD’s will use the hype to pull more people in, but this film delivered.  Co-director/screenwriter Coralie hails from a background in pornography, and it is widely apparent here.  The rape scenes aren’t faked.  There’s real fucking going on and real penetration, and we really see it in all it’s shocking glory.  Holy Crap! 

The film is shot on video, which gives the film a gritty realistic vibe to it.  Our leading ladies are porn actresses, but sure don’t act like them.  They have a natural and common look that is different from the plastic look of the L.A. porn crowd, and because of this are able to deliver believable performances, performances which are only furthered as believable by their background in a sex trade.  

The director seems to shun high production values and slick editing, instead focusing on the two main characters and the shocking storytelling.  Baise Moi breaks genre lines and becomes a prolific and powerful story of two women who have not just broken the social barriers around them, but decimated them, and now liberated in their mind are out to gratify themselves through bloody vengeance.  

It would be far too easy to compare this film to the notorious rape/revenge flick I Spit On Your Grave.  However, this is something more.  It has something more to say. Perhaps something feminist, perhaps something simply human.  Whether or not the message is delivered effectively might be subject to debate, but there’s no denying it either way.

Despite the graphic sexual nature of the film, this isn’t the type of film you’re going to get your rocks off to, at least it’s not meant for that.  On the same note, I also did not find the film to be in any way empowering or uplifting.  In other words, it’s not a feel good film.  What is unfortunate is that it borders on hollow nihilism, and rounds out with a rather hopeless and bleak worldview.  However, what would have been the alternative here? 

Banned in its own country of France, Baise Moi is a flaming Molotov cocktail lit with a blood soaked tampon and comes recommended.