Baise-moi (2001)

Boring, long, and too preachy.

It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

If you are a fan of 'extreme' cinema, especially of the French variety, chances are you've already heard of or seen 'Baise Moi', and if you're not, then it probably won't be too high on your list of films to see, if it is at all. Hopefully you know what to expect at least!BM is somewhat like 'Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer', but with a pair of seemingly psychologically 'normal' women, who one day lose it and commit murder on impulse, happen to bump into one another before going postal for a few days before it all unravels tragically at the end.What BM offers that most 'extreme' films don't, is a large proportion of the cast and directors being from the pornographic industry, and of course, actual unsimulated sex scenes. That and the the fact that women are ones committing reckless acts of murder, often in brutal and creative ways, with the sex and the violence interspersed evenly and casually throughout, does serve to earn the film its controversial reputation.A common criticism is the loose storytelling, and yes, the first few scenes are unusual, and very random, snippets of street/bar scenes, conversations, yet all tinged with a sense of menace. Tension between man and woman is palpable from early on, before any of the characters are properly introduced.The first lead is Nadine, a lady of the night, played by the stunning (and sadly departed) Karen Lancaume, demure and polite in public, super casual at home, where she constantly fends off her bickering housemate. The second is Manu (Rafaella Anderson), younger and gutsier, and actually more believable as a killer or a criminal than Nadine.The manner of their meeting and subsequent bonding is somewhat rushed and artificial. Probably not what the directors wanted to focus on, in preference for getting to the action as soon as possible.The violence will satisfy most extremophiles, it is more of the gritty and realistic variety than the cartoonish gore Kill Bill variety. However, I never truly bought Nadine as a sadistic killer the way I did with Manu. Manu just seems like a dangerous street kid capable of anything, with Nadine it feels she is more just coming along for the ride, and is too jaded about life to care or take much pleasure in the brutality. Her speaking and mannerisms are too sedate and measured, even aloof; I am thinking her first mainstream role should not have been as radical as this. BM finishes with Manu killed, and Nadine forced to deal with her loss, whom she mourns as she would a sister (after only having met her a few days prior). So, not even after so much carnage does she lose her ability to feel, or love, she is finally presented as a tragic character, not a monster. And perhaps, after being used to seeing psychopaths commit these acts on our screens, Nadine's 'human' story adds to BM being so hard to stomach for the censors, given the monstrous acts she previously committed.I know of no other film as violent with frequent unsimulated sex scenes, especially not ones where the murderers and participants in said sex scenes are one and the same! Given that the film is now 13 years old, in the world of extreme, that has to count for something!

"Baise-moi" isn't the first film to combine un-simulated sex with elements of non-porn movies, actors and a "real" storyline. To mind come the infamous "Caligula", various exploitation pictures from the 70's and 80's, or Larry Clarks ill-fated "Ken Park", to name but a few.However, unlike the two movies mentioned above, who utilized explicit sex-scenes; "Baise-moi" comes across more as a porn-film that tries to disguise itself as a feminist's thriller. The basic story – two rape-victims go on a revenge-rampage – is simple, without much depth and the hardcore scenes seem randomly thrown in, for the sake of effect and scandal, rather than helping the films progress."Antagonists" Karen Bach and Raffaela Anderson definitely both can't live up to the skills of Geena Davis or Susan Sarandon; at no time able to disguise what they in reality are: porn-actresses. Same goes for the rest of the cast crew, who cannot deny the genre they've originated from (and, without doubt, will return to after this excursion into "real film"). I dare say that, in the times before straight-to-video (now internet) porn, there have been porn-productions, like the "Josefina Mutzenbacher"-films, that featured better actors and more solid story lines.It's unlikely that fans of feminist revenge-thrillers will be very interested in a film containing un-simulated sex scenes; for jaded gorehounds there is too little of that and people who're into cheap porn, well, those will know where to find that on the world wide web (or will forward during the cheap dialog and action scenes). Hence, the intended audience for this film escapes me.If you're looking for fresh, innovative or experimental thrillers with a shock-factor, I recommend the original "Funny Games" or "Man Bites Dog"; this film I can only give a sleazy 3 points from 10 and heart-felt 'je t'encule'.

I will admit that I read the other reviews before I saw this film. Now I will try to be objective. This is NOT a revenge movie. Anyone calling it that has not seen it. True, one of the women has been raped, but she doesn't seem to care, nor does she want revenge. The other woman who joins her simply wants excitement. If you have to compare this to an American film, try "Natural Born Killers." That is closer in tone and theme than "Thelma & Louise" because there is nothing to like about these characters. They are cold-blooded, merciless killers who go on a rampage and enjoy murdering and having sex. Sometimes they kill the people they have sex with; other times they don't. But the bottom line is that this is truly bad filmmaking. It looks like something made by a pair of high school dropouts with no idea what the point of their film is. It is shot on video (not film), features adult film actresses, unrealistic violence, and has no impact. About half-way through, you may ask yourself why it was made. It really goes nowhere. Even if was a revenge film, it still wouldn't have been any good, because of the poor acting, poor production value and the fact that the first-time directors just haven't sharpened their talent yet. Who is the target audience for this? A porno audience? The horror film audience? It doesn't hit the mark in either genre. Who cares about the explicit sex and violence if it's so poorly made that you can't take it seriously? That is definitely the case with "Baise-moi."

Let me start of by saying that Sex and violence and the relationship between them are integral to the human experience and are both older than history itself, and I'm more than prepared to watch a film that engages in those themes. Baise-Moi does try to explore those ideas, but it falls far short of that task for a number of reasons: 1) The Characters: The two leads of the film, Nadine and Manu to their credit aren't badly performed at all. I was able to see a relationship that transcended that of a sexual nature and was filled with a genuine affection - you can see that once they had become bonded they almost became a single entity, functioning as two parts of one whole never in conflict with each other but with the world around them.The problem is that the characters lose sympathy from the audience through their actions, and It's not because they commit horrendous acts of violence or engage in sexual activity with strangers. It is possible to see characters do such things and still root for them - one need only consider characters such as Tony Soprano to accept that. But the actions of Nadine and Manu seem arbitrary. They'll have sex with some people, and kill others and its rarely clear why. In fact towards the end of the film the enter a sex club and massacre an entire room of people who are exploring and engaging in sex in a consensual manner even though these people are doing exactly what Nadine and Manu have spent their time doing. I struggled to understand what their ideology was - there didn't seem to be any clear rules or logic that could be applied to what they were doing. As an audience we don't always have to sympathize with a character, but if we can't empathize with them then their choices end up being unbelievable and we lose all stake in the film.2) The Plot. The main problem with the plot is that the film doesn't really have one and it lacks proper structure. We have a first act where we are introduced to the main characters and witness their first meeting and a end goal is set up - that of meeting another character in Vosges to help them in some kind of border smuggling enterprise, the details of which are never really made clear. Thus we enter the second act and are given the impression that this is to be a road film - a journey into the darkest corners of human interaction where all inhibitions are banished as the character's race, almost eagerly towards self destruction.We do see Nadine and Manu engage in sex and murder in an almost decadent fashion, and we see them reflect on the nature of their partnership. But there is no sense of a journey here. The films goes from one scene to another with no sense of progression. The characters seem relatively unchanged from their first act of murder and it doesn't feel as if they are really physically journeying anywhere either. It almost feels as if they're just driving around randomly - there is no sense of an overall plot progression here at all. Characters are randomly introduced and dispatched without forwarding the overall plot in any real sense.3) The Cinematography: I don't know a lot about camera work or cinematography so I won't go on about it at length but from a lay-man's point of view it felt pretty weak. Obviously this is a low budget film that had to make do with what could be afforded and I totally accept that. But the camera work constantly felt to me as if it was neglecting to play to the strengths of being able to use a hand-held camera to get a sense of realism. It always felt like the director was trying to use the camera as if it was a big budget high quality one. Unfortunately the low quality nature of the shots makes the film feel like a pale amateur imitator of other films. To sum up then, the reason Baise-Moi fails as a film for me isn't the explicit or shocking nature of the film. The makers of this film clearly decided that they wanted to be unflinching in their examination of the darker recesses of human society and I see that as a legitimate attempt to create a piece of art. Also the acting, while not award winning is for the most part isn't at all terrible and the two leads carry the film well as much as is possible. The problem lies ultimately with the script - which lacks a coherent 3 act structure. It feels as if the writer started out trying to set up a story-line with a first act that introduces the main characters and gives them an end goal and sets up a story about a journey. But then just got bored and decided to craft a series of scenes that pay homage to other road films that explore sex and violence, but failed to understand what made those films work. The end result comes off as amateurish and hackneyed and makes it look as if the film was made purely for shock value rather than to explore explicit themes in an unflinching manner.Ultimately the films attempts to explore sex and violence in an explicit manner but fails as a piece of art. In doing so it hands those who would try to censor artful expression an example that furthers their goal rather than contradicts it. 3/10.