Baise-moi
Encyclopedia
Baise-moi is a French
film co-directed by Virginie Despentes
and Coralie Trinh Thi
, released in 2000. It is based on the novel by Despentes, first published in 1999. The film received intense media coverage because of its graphic mix of violence and explicit sex scenes. Consequently, it is sometimes considered an example of the "New French Extremity
".
Baiser is a French verb meaning "to fuck"; it also used to mean "to kiss" in classic French texts. Baise-moi would be translated as "fuck me". The film has also been screened in some markets as "Rape Me", but this translation, which is not in the French word, was rejected by the directors in a 2002 interview.
) and Manu (Raffaëla Anderson
) who go on a violent spree against a society in which they feel marginalised. Nadine is a part-time prostitute. Manu is a slacker who does anything - including occasional porn film acting - to get by in her small town in southern France.
One day Manu and her friend, a drug addict, are brutally gang-raped by three men. While her friend struggles, screams, and fights against the rapists, Manu lies still with a detached look, which angers the man raping her. Manu then returns to her brother's house, and does not tell him what has happened, but he realises after noticing bruises on her neck. He gets out a gun and asks Manu who was responsible, but when Manu refuses to tell him, he calls her a "slut" and implies that she actually enjoyed being raped. In response, Manu picks up his discarded pistol and shoots him in the head.
Meanwhile, Nadine returns home and has an argument with her roommate, whom she kills, before leaving with their rent money. Nadine suffers another emotional setback when she meets her best friend, a drug dealer, in another town, but he is shot and killed while out obtaining drugs with a prescription she forged for him.
Later that night, having missed the last train, Nadine meets Manu at the railway station. Manu says she has a car, if Nadine will drive for her. They soon realise that they share common feelings of anger, and embark on a violent and sexually charged road trip together. In need of money they hold up a convenience store, and also kill a woman at an ATM. Finally, after much killing and sexual activities, the two women enter a swingers' club and kill everyone there. The pair discuss what they have done, and agree that it has all been pointless because nothing has changed inside them.
During their spree the entire country is abuzz over the beautiful bandit/killers. Some people actually support them, while most are in fear. One day Manu enters a roadside tire store to get some coffee, leaving Nadine outside. Hearing gunfire, Nadine rushes in to find Manu shot by the owner, whom she kills. Nadine takes Manu's body to a forest and burns it, before driving to a beach. With tears in her eyes, Nadine puts the gun to her head, intending to commit suicide, but gets arrested by the police before she can do so.
, 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'."
whose previous work was in unambiguously pornographic movies. The two lead roles were also played by former porn actresses, while porn actor Ian Scott
appeared in the film as one of the rapists. Perhaps in part due to this, the film was criticised as thinly veiled pornography
by some sections 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 agreed, saying their film "was not erotic."
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, which is strongly associated with the Mouvement National Républicain. 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
ended the debate by re-introducing an 18 certificate, allowing the film to be re-released in mainstream theatres.
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 license - this due in part to complaints by such notable Canadian filmmakers as Atom Egoyan
and Denys Arcand
. In Quebec
, 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. It did, however, provoke a violent reaction from one Montreal moviegoer, who broke into the projection booth and stole the print, ending the screening.
In the United Kingdom, the film was released with an 18 certificate for its 2001 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 eroticised sexual assault. The film received an 18 certificate on video in 2002 after a further twelve seconds of cuts to a scene showing a gun being pressed into a man's anus prior to being fired. Even with these cuts, the film represents a watershed in what content is allowed at the 18 rating - films with the R18
higher rating 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. It received an R18 rating in cinemas in New Zealand, and was banned from video release there, following an injunction filed by the Society for the Promotion of Community Standards
. The film was banned completely in Ireland, although it was shown in arthouse club cinemas which can screen unclassified films.
Two minutes and 35 seconds of cuts were required before the film received a certificate in Hong Kong
.
Although the film's release in Bulgaria
was otherwise uncontroversial, the television programme Господари на ефира conducted an experiment in which two 14-year-olds were sent to buy tickets for it. The teenagers successfully made the purchase and even entered the cinema, but left after the opening credits. Rather than discussing the film itself, the programme focused on the lack of control cinema owners and staff - as well as the authorities - exercised 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 .
This film appeared in its original cut on public television in Finland
.
In Mexico
, the film was shown uncut on mainstream theaters, with a "C" (18+) rating, with a warning because of the sexual and violent images, but it didn't create too much controversy on the media. It was also aired several times uncut on cable television.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
film co-directed by Virginie Despentes
Virginie Despentes
Virginie Despentes is a French writer, novelist and filmmaker.-Life:She settled in Lyon, where she worked multiple odd jobs; including maid, prostitute in "massage parlors" and peep shows, recorded store sales, and a freelance rock journalist and pornographic film critic.She moved to Paris.Her...
and Coralie Trinh Thi
Coralie Trinh Thi
Coralie Trinh Thi is a French author and former pornographic actress known for her acting, writing and for directing the film Baise-moi . She received a Hot d'Or Honorary Award in 2009....
, released in 2000. It is based on the novel by Despentes, first published in 1999. The film received intense media coverage because of its graphic mix of violence and explicit sex scenes. Consequently, it is sometimes considered an example of the "New French Extremity
New French Extremity
New French Extremity is a term coined by Artforum critic James Quandt for a collection of transgressive films by French directors at the turn of the 21st century. The filmmakers are also discussed by Jonathan Romney of The Independent...
".
Baiser is a French verb meaning "to fuck"; it also used to mean "to kiss" in classic French texts. Baise-moi would be translated as "fuck me". The film has also been screened in some markets as "Rape Me", but this translation, which is not in the French word, was rejected by the directors in a 2002 interview.
Plot
Baise-moi tells the story of Nadine (played by Karen LancaumeKaren Lancaume
Karen Lancaume was a French pornographic film actress. She appeared in around 40 movies between 1996 and 2002. She is best known internationally for her starring role as Nadine in the controversial 2000 film, Baise-moi...
) and Manu (Raffaëla Anderson
Raffaëla Anderson
Raffaëla Anderson was an adult film performer from 1995 to 2001, and is now a non-fiction writer and occasionally acts in mainstream productions.-Personal life:...
) who go on a violent spree against a society in which they feel marginalised. Nadine is a part-time prostitute. Manu is a slacker who does anything - including occasional porn film acting - to get by in her small town in southern France.
One day Manu and her friend, a drug addict, are brutally gang-raped by three men. While her friend struggles, screams, and fights against the rapists, Manu lies still with a detached look, which angers the man raping her. Manu then returns to her brother's house, and does not tell him what has happened, but he realises after noticing bruises on her neck. He gets out a gun and asks Manu who was responsible, but when Manu refuses to tell him, he calls her a "slut" and implies that she actually enjoyed being raped. In response, Manu picks up his discarded pistol and shoots him in the head.
Meanwhile, Nadine returns home and has an argument with her roommate, whom she kills, before leaving with their rent money. Nadine suffers another emotional setback when she meets her best friend, a drug dealer, in another town, but he is shot and killed while out obtaining drugs with a prescription she forged for him.
Later that night, having missed the last train, Nadine meets Manu at the railway station. Manu says she has a car, if Nadine will drive for her. They soon realise that they share common feelings of anger, and embark on a violent and sexually charged road trip together. In need of money they hold up a convenience store, and also kill a woman at an ATM. Finally, after much killing and sexual activities, the two women enter a swingers' club and kill everyone there. The pair discuss what they have done, and agree that it has all been pointless because nothing has changed inside them.
During their spree the entire country is abuzz over the beautiful bandit/killers. Some people actually support them, while most are in fear. One day Manu enters a roadside tire store to get some coffee, leaving Nadine outside. Hearing gunfire, Nadine rushes in to find Manu shot by the owner, whom she kills. Nadine takes Manu's body to a forest and burns it, before driving to a beach. With tears in her eyes, Nadine puts the gun to her head, intending to commit suicide, but gets arrested by the police before she can do so.
Production
The film was filmed on location between October and December 1999 in BiarritzBiarritz
Biarritz is a city which lies on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast, in south-western France. It is a luxurious seaside town and is popular with tourists and surfers....
, Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
, Lyon
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
and Marseille
Marseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...
. It was shot on digital video
Digital video
Digital video is a type of digital recording system that works by using a digital rather than an analog video signal.The terms camera, video camera, and camcorder are used interchangeably in this article.- History :...
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
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
, 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'."
Release
The movie was co-directed by actress Coralie Trinh ThiCoralie Trinh Thi
Coralie Trinh Thi is a French author and former pornographic actress known for her acting, writing and for directing the film Baise-moi . She received a Hot d'Or Honorary Award in 2009....
whose previous work was in unambiguously pornographic movies. The two lead roles were also played by former porn actresses, while porn actor Ian Scott
Ian Scott (actor)
Ian Scott is a French pornographic actor and director from 1996-2010. He's also known by aliases Yann Scott, Yann Nickeur, Yannick and G Gam...
appeared in the film as one of the rapists. Perhaps in part due to this, the film was criticised as thinly veiled pornography
Pornography
Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
by some sections of the media. Le Monde
Le Monde
Le Monde is a French daily evening newspaper owned by La Vie-Le Monde Group and edited in Paris. It is one of two French newspapers of record, and has generally been well respected since its first edition under founder Hubert Beuve-Méry on 19 December 1944...
, for instance, called it a "sick film". Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
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
The Sunday Times (UK)
The Sunday Times is a Sunday broadsheet newspaper, distributed in the United Kingdom. The Sunday Times is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International, which is in turn owned by News Corporation. Times Newspapers also owns The Times, but the two papers were founded...
that "This movie is not for masturbation, [thus it] is not porn." Despentes agreed, saying their film "was not erotic."
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, which is strongly associated with the Mouvement National Républicain. Some groups litigated against the classification decision, arguing that the film should be X-rated
X-rated
In some countries, X is or has been a motion picture rating reserved for the most explicit films. Films rated X are intended only for viewing by adults, usually legally defined as people over the age of 17.-United Kingdom:...
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
Cause célèbre
A is an issue or incident arousing widespread controversy, outside campaigning and heated public debate. The term is particularly used in connection with celebrated legal cases. It is a French phrase in common English use...
– 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
Minister of Culture (France)
The Minister of Culture is, in the Government of France, the cabinet member in charge of national museums and monuments; promoting and protecting the arts in France and abroad; and managing the national archives and regional "maisons de culture"...
Catherine Tasca
Catherine Tasca
Catherine Tasca is a member of the Senate of France, representing the Yvelines department. She is a member of the Socialist Party; she currently serves as the Senate's vice-president. From 2000 to 2002 she was Minister of Culture in France. She is the daughter of Angelo Tasca a former italian...
ended the debate by re-introducing an 18 certificate, allowing the film to be re-released in mainstream theatres.
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
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, 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 license - this due in part to complaints by such notable Canadian filmmakers as Atom Egoyan
Atom Egoyan
Atom Egoyan, OC is a critically acclaimed Armenian-Canadian stage director and film director. Egoyan made his career breakthrough with Exotica...
and Denys Arcand
Denys Arcand
Georges-Henri Denys Arcand, is a Canadian film director, screenwriter and producer. He has won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film in 2004 for The Barbarian Invasions...
. In Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, 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. It did, however, provoke a violent reaction from one Montreal moviegoer, who broke into the projection booth and stole the print, ending the screening.
In the United Kingdom, the film was released with an 18 certificate for its 2001 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 eroticised sexual assault. The film received an 18 certificate on video in 2002 after a further twelve seconds of cuts to a scene showing a gun being pressed into a man's anus prior to being fired. Even with these cuts, the film represents a watershed in what content is allowed at the 18 rating - films with the R18
R18 certificate
The R18 certificate represents a film or video classification given by the British Board of Film Classification . It is intended to provide a classification for works that are within British obscenity laws, but exceed what the BBFC considers acceptable for its 18 certificate...
higher rating 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
London Underground
The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...
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
Motion Picture Association of America
The Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. , originally the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America , was founded in 1922 and is designed to advance the business interests of its members...
. 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. It received an R18 rating in cinemas in New Zealand, and was banned from video release there, following an injunction filed by the Society for the Promotion of Community Standards
Society for the Promotion of Community Standards
The Society for the Promotion of Community Standards is a conservative Christian-dominated organisation in New Zealand. The Society's objectives include the encouragement of "self-respect and the dignity of the human person, made in the image of God", the "recognition of the sanctity of human life...
. The film was banned completely in Ireland, although it was shown in arthouse club cinemas which can screen unclassified films.
Two minutes and 35 seconds of cuts were required before the film received a certificate in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
.
Although the film's release in Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
was otherwise uncontroversial, the television programme Господари на ефира conducted an experiment in which two 14-year-olds were sent to buy tickets for it. The teenagers successfully made the purchase and even entered the cinema, but left after the opening credits. Rather than discussing the film itself, the programme focused on the lack of control cinema owners and staff - as well as the authorities - exercised 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 .
This film appeared in its original cut on public television in Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
.
In Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, the film was shown uncut on mainstream theaters, with a "C" (18+) rating, with a warning because of the sexual and violent images, but it didn't create too much controversy on the media. It was also aired several times uncut on cable television.
See also
- List of films based on crime books
- List of mainstream movies with unsimulated sexUnsimulated sex in filmUnsimulated sex in mainstream cinema was at one time restricted by law and self-imposed industry standards such as the Motion Picture Production Code. Films showing explicit sexual activity were confined to privately distributed underground films, such as stag films or "porn loops"...