Cinema N: Baise-Moi

In the spirit of the N Files, I figured I'd put some attention into all the DVD's in my collection that I have had scant time to watch them.

So the first one up is Baise-Moi. It's a French film and the one of the press clippings on the back cover called it a "Thelma & Louise with real penetration." Appealing. When I saw it in the store I remembered reading about it vaguely. I like European films. I like European action films because they have more heart and better plotlines than their American counterparts. What's the harm? So I bought it.

Oh
My
Goodness

That press clipping should have said Thelma & Louise with real penetration and directed by Quentin Tarantino. These girls are violent. They clip almost anyone for no particular reason. Yes one was raped and the other was a hooker and they've both had it. But it was like someone flipped the killing switch on them.

The film is shot using handheld digital cameras which gives the movie an even more skitterish (is that a word?) feeling. It adds to the excitement, the confusion, the silliness of it all. The main characters are played by Karen Bach and Raffaela Anderson, who we're told on the box are veterans of the French adult film industry. Judging by the sex scenes, that's pretty accurate.

Anyway, the two happen to meet up randomly, each trying to run away from the town they live in. Manu (Anderson) has just killed her brother and Nadine the prostitute (Bach) has just strangled her roommate and watched her junkie best friend get shot. Armed with Manu's brother's car, they get to moving and within the first night they are already muggers, popping off some poor businesswoman who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Then they dance to techno.

I'll be honest. They're pretty irresponsible. At first I was just horrified. But after a while when they actually start killing men like black widows you start to feel the pain. They get so good at shooting people you can feel the release from 20-some odd years of abuse all dribbling away.

Anyway, just like Thelma & Louise the ending is not that great for our heroines but you knew that when you started the movie anyway. The violence and sex are shocking but the way the director handled it, it could have been more gratitutous. It's necessary for the plot to see them so displaced and then so vibrant. Very good film though not for the faint of heart.