Baise Moi

BAISE MOI (which translates as, amongst other things, RAPE ME) is a low budget French film directed by two of that country's 'adult movie veterans'. Porno stars, then.

The first third of the film continually cuts between the life-changing events of it's protagonists - Manu and Nadine - prior to their fateful meeting.

Manu is a streetwise kid, fed up with the macho posturing of the men in her life. While out with a female friend they are interrupted by a carload of young thugs, and dragged screaming into a vacated lot where they are both raped. Perturbed by the lack of reaction he gets from Manu, the main rapist curses her and the mob flee. Manu's friend cannot believe how she is able to detach herself from such a traumatic experience. Manu shrugs it off as men being men - "It could have been worse ... it's just a bit of cock ...".

Meanwhile, Nadine is a prostitute unhappy with her lot. We see her going through the motions with her customers. And she is decidedly not doing this for the love of sex - at one point she even resorts to watching I STAND ALONE (possibly the most nihilistic French film ever) on a portable TV while the man behind her humps away. Well, at least she has taste! Another early scene shows Nadine's flatmate catching her masturbating to Lea Martini getting raped in the porn film PRISON ...

Anyway, Manu returns home and tells her boyfriend of her ordeal. His reaction is a typically male one - one of bravado; he pulls out a gun and swears to kill the people responsible. This infuriates Manu, and in the resulting fight she accidentally shoots her boyfriend in the head. Oops! Time to flee the scene of the crime.

Nadine, on the other hand, is fed up with the constant nagging of her flat-mate and after a similarly violent confrontation, makes her way to the train station to head for a new life ... where she meets Manu.

Initially suspicious of each other (well, Manu does have a gun pointed at Nadine for a while!), the girls soon bond. Before we know it, they're off on a THEMA AND LOUISE-type road trip that takes in casual sex, robberies, murder and a near-climactic massacre at a millionaire's sex club.

Definitely playing the 'women have been treated as peices of meat for too long' card, the film interestingly takes the eroticism out of each sex scene - and the only characters we are ever allowed to identify with are the two lead females. It has to be said that, despite their indifference to murder, robbery etc, they do ultimately endear themselves to us (especially Manu).

Filmed on a mega-low budget, the grainy look of the film actually helps it's cause - after all the world these two live in seems so sleazy, it wouldn't have the same effect if this was some over-stylised Hollywood production. The world Manu & Nadine frequent is a frighteningly dark and real one. The men they meet are indeed sleazeballs, yet not unbelievably so. There are moments of heavy-handed feminism (the early scenes with Nadine's customers; the Johnny-cum-quickly casual lay) admittedly, but for the most part it remains credible. And the odd occasions of humour work quite well too.

The end (which I won't spoil) is a bit of a cop-out, as if they couldn't think of how to finish things - but thought this might offer something profound.

Having said that, BAISE MOI is an enjoyable film. Perhaps too much is made of it's explicit sexual content. Sure, there are numerous scenes of graphic fellatio, penetration etc - and it's amazing to think the UK theatrical release only had 10 seconds cut by the BBFC, especially when the rape scene is so jarring even WITHOUT the close-up penetration scene (intact here). But overall this is a fast-paced flick with plenty of violence of the 'gun-crazy' variety, and a simple kinetic plot that should please most exploitation fans. The punky soundtrack is pleasing on the ears, too!

The disc itself is pretty bare-bones. There's a few text-only press comments about the film, a trailer and a sparse poster gallery. The picture shows grain and is full-frame (it looks like old VHS, to be honest). The sound is French 2.0 Dolby Digital (with English subtitles). The French disc I saw a few months back definitely had a better picture quality, but of course no English subtitles. Both had animated menus, but only the French one revels in the graphic excesses of the film ...

Oh, and the cover of this release is double-sided - one side has English text, the other has French (a Canadian release, maybe?). The choice is yours ... one thing's for sure, if this does ever get a UK DVD release it will be landmark release in terms of BBFC permissiveness, and will no doubt still be shorn ofthose controversial 10 seconds!

Review by Stuart Willis