Baise-moi
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| Baise-moi | |
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| Directed by | Virginie Despentes Coralie Trinh Thi |
| Produced by | Philippe Godeau |
| Written by | Coralie Trinh Thi Virginie Despentes |
| Starring | Karen Lancaume Raffaëla Anderson |
| Music by | Varou Jan |
| Cinematography | Benoît Chamaillard Julien Pamart |
| Editing by | Aïlo Auguste-Judith Francine Lemaitre Véronique Rosa |
| Distributed by | FilmFixx (USA) |
| Release date(s) | June 28, 2000 |
| Running time | 77 min |
| Country |  France |
| Language | French |
| Official website | |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Baise-moi is a novel by French author Virginie Despentes, first published in 1999. A film based on the book, and with the same name, was released the following year. The film, directed by Despentes and actress Coralie Trinh Thi, received intense media coverage because its graphic mix of real rather than simulated sex and violence was on the limit of that allowed by censors in various countries around the world. After only three days, the film was removed from the cinema circuit after a barrage of complaints.
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[edit] Plot
Baise-moi tells the story of Nadine (played by Karen Lancaume) and Manu (Raffaëla Anderson) who go on a violent spree against a society in which they feel marginalized.
The title can be translated as "Fuck Me". (The film has also been screened in some markets as "Rape Me"; however, this translation was rejected by the directors in a 2002 interview. As a noun, baiser means kiss, but the verb baiser standardly means to fuck; it never means to rape.)
Nadine is a part-time prostitute. Manu is a slacker who does anything (including an occasional porn) to get by in the small town in southern France where they both live.
One day, Manu and her only friend, a drug addict, are brutally gang-raped by a trio of degenerate street punks. While her friend struggles and screams in terror, Manu lies still with a detached look, angering the rapists. Manu returns home and tells her brother of her ordeal. The brother reacts by vowing to find and take revenge upon the rapists. But Manu kills him instead. Meanwhile, after another outing, Nadine comes home and after an argument with her roommate, Nadine kills her and takes off with their rent money. Nadine suffers another emotional setback when her only real friend, who is also her pimp, is shot and killed before her by some of his business 'associates.'
Later that night, Manu and Nadine both attempt to take the last train from an otherwise deserted station. They miss the train, but begin talking to one another. They realise they share common feelings of anger and together begin to go on a violent road trip characterized by the pattern of meeting a man, having sex with him and then killing him. In need of money, they also hold up a convenience store and kill a woman at an ATM. Critics have pointed to these scenes to suggest the film is not a purely feminist endeavour.[citation needed]
Finally, after much killing and aimless driving, the two women enter a swingers' bar and kill many of the couples there. The pair discuss what they have done, and agree that it has all been pointless because nothing has changed inside them.
It all ends when Manu is shot in the neck and dies while attempting to rob another convenience store. Nadine flees to a remote cabin to commit suicide, but gets arrested by the police before she can do so.
[edit] Making the film
The movie was filmed on location between October and December 1999 in Biarritz, Bordeaux, Lyon and Marseille. It was shot on digital video without artificial lighting. This low budget method of filming divided critics - some said it gave the film an amateurish look. Lou Lumenick, reviewing the film in the New York Post, went further and said it "looked like hell". Others, such as James Travers writing for filmsdefrance.com, said the filming method added something to the film. Travers wrote "the film's 'rough and ready' feel helps to strengthen its artistic vision and draws out the messages which it is trying to get across, without distracting its audience with overly choreographed 'shock scenes'."
[edit] Release
The movie was co-directed by an actress (Coralie Trinh Thi) whose previous work was in unambiguously pornographic movies and the two lead roles were also played by former porn actresses. Perhaps in part due to this, the film was criticised as thinly veiled pornography by many members of the media. Le Monde, for instance, called it a "sick film". Time magazine bucked the trend by saying "Virginie Despentes and Coralie Trinh Thi's festival sensation is stark, serious and original. And as one of the amoral avengers, Raffaela Anderson has true star quality – part seraph, all slut." The co-directors rejected the pornography charge: Trinh Thi said in an interview with the Sunday Times that "This movie is not for masturbation, [thus it] is not porn." Despentes concurred, saying their film "was not erotic."
Also, pornographic actor Ian Scott appeared in the film as one of the rapists.
In its home country, the film was initially released with a 16 rating, given by a ministerial commission. The rating caused outrage, particularly amongst members of the right-wing Promouvoir religious group. Some groups litigated against the classification decision, arguing that the film should be X-rated given its high content of realistic sex and extreme violence, both of which are grounds for X classification in France; the Conseil d'État ruled its classification illegal, removing it from the theater circuit. As the first film to be banned in France for 28 years, it became something of a cause célèbre – with one anti-censorship campaigner calling the ban "totalitarian state censorship". The Conseil later re-classified the film with an X certificate, a category usually reserved for mainstream pornographic movies. Minister for Culture Catherine Tasca pacified the debate by re-introducing an 18 certificate. The film was then re-released with this newly restored certificate.
In Australia, the movie was initially passed for viewing at the highest possible R18 rating in a 6-5 vote by the country's Classification Board. However the Attorney-General invoked his powers under the 1995 Classification Act to have the board's decision reviewed. The Classification Review Board (a separate entity to the Classification Board) ruled that the film could only have an RC (Refused Classification) rating and the film was pulled from cinemas. It was later revealed that 50,000 people had seen the film prior to banning but according to Des Clark, director of the Office of Film and Literature Classification, just "one or two" of those had complained about the film. Most complainants, he explained, had not seen the film.
In Canada, the film was banned in Ontario, initially because it was deemed too pornographic. The producers asked for it to be re-rated with a pornographic rating, only for it to be banned because there was too much violence for a pornographic film. A second review passed them with an 18A licence - this due in part to complaints by such notable Canadian filmmakers as Atom Egoyan and Denys Arcand. In Quebec, however, the film was considered to be a moderate success for an independent release, taking in approximately $CDN 250,000 in the first two months of its run.
In the United Kingdom, the film was released with an 18 certificate for cinema release after ten seconds of cuts. The cut was to a scene that showed a close-up shot of a penis entering a vagina during a rape scene that the Board ruled was eroticising sexual assault. The film received an 18 certificate on video after a further two seconds of cuts to a scene showing a gun being pressed into a man's anus prior to being fired (in another shot). Nevertheless, the film represents a watershed in what content is allowed at the 18 rating (films with the higher rating, R18, can only be sold in licensed sex shops). The film was one of the very first to show an erect penis, and the first to combine it with scenes of violence. London Underground banned the display of the film's advertising poster because of fears that its title would offend French-speakers using its network.
In the United States, the film was marketed under the names Kiss Me and Rape Me and released without a classification from the Motion Picture Association of America. It screened only at a small number of cinemas (almost all of them in arthouse cinemas in the major cities) The film took just $70,000 in receipts from its American release and there was a marked lack of controversy as compared to other countries.
The movie also performed quite poorly in Germany. Although it was released in its unedited version it didn't cause much of a controversy in the media.
In New Zealand, the film received an R18 rating in the cinema, and was banned from video release.
The film was banned completely in Ireland, although it was shown in arthouse club cinemas which do not require a classifications for films.
Two minutes and 35 seconds of cuts were required before the film received a certificate in Hong Kong.
The film's release in Bulgaria didn't cause much controversy, however, the famous TV show Господари на ефира conducted an experiment, in which two 14-year-old teenagers were sent to buy tickets for it. The teenagers successfully made the purchase and even entered the theatre (but saw only the opening credits and left). Rather than discussing the film itself, the show focused their attention on the little control cinema owners and staff, as well as the authorities, exercise over minors visiting adult films in the country. The cinema in question later pulled the film off its schedule, following the report's first airing (but it could have been presented elsewhere).
This film appeared in original cut on public television in Finland.
[edit] References
- Baise-moi (English language edition) Virginie Despentes, translated by Bruce Benderson, Grove Press, ISBN 0-8021-3870-5
- Baise-moi (French language edition) Virginie Despentes, ISBN 2-290-30879-X
- Baise-moi, feminist cinemas and the censorship controversy Scott MacKenzie, 2002. Screen 43:3, Autumn 2002 - Reports and Debates.
[edit] External links
- Official homepage for the UK release of the film
- The banning of Baise-Moi in Australia
- BBFC page detailing cuts required to the film in the United Kingdom
- A extended review of the film, and the controversy surrounding it from The Guardian
- Decision of the Conseil d'État banning the film (in French)
- Baise-moi at the Internet Movie Database
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