baise Moi

Karen Lancaume, Raffaëla Anderson, Céline Beugnot, Adama Niane, Christophe Claudy Landry, Tewfik Saad

Virginie Despentes

Canal+

72 min

Thriller

French

2004

A loose English translation of the French title is: Fuck Me. You can’t get more blatant than that. It’s this kind of ‘in-your-face’ honestly that saturates this incredibly violent and explicit film, holding nothing back in either the darkened bloodstained alleyways or the rundown motel bedrooms. And in order to accomplish this, the casting was clearly key. When you discover that the filmography of the movie’s two stars includes titles such as Anal Power 3 and Teeny Exzess 38, you start to get some idea of just how explicit this film is. Short of close-up penetration (the last, great cinematic taboo), anything goes in Baise-moi. Yet, surprisingly, the abundant nudity, romping and blowjobs rarely seem gratuitous within the context of this grizzly tale. Instead they just help to create a horrifyingly more real and tangible story. Despite their porn star status both Bach and in particular, Anderson excel, bringing a unique sense of world-weary apathy to their roles. Vacuous bimbos, they are not. The violence is less gory than it could be, but no less shocking thanks to Bach and Anderson’s sometimes-soulless executions of the seemingly innocent. And when it comes to digging out those feelings, left buried deep within after a lifetime of hurt, the girls accomplish that too with the kind of subtleties reserved for Oscar winners. There’s no escaping the fact that Baise-moi isn’t for the faint-hearted. Designed to provide an unsettling experience for both men and women, it does so with visceral panache. It’s been described as a darker version of Thelma and Louise, but in truth this is unlike any film you’ve ever seen before, or likely will ever see again. Must be Scene: The girls’ desire for sex and violence finally collide when an unwitting stranger refuses to wear a condom, then screams at Manu for puking on him after gagging on his cock. From this point on, sex and death are as inseparable for the two girls as their bond. Awards: Nominated for the Grand Prix Asturias at the Gijon International Film Festival, the Golden Leopard at the Locarno International Film Festival and the Bronze Horse at the Stockholm Film Festival.