Baise-moi: Try Translating THAT … !

3rd August, 2013.

You know, I like films, I really do.

No, seriously!

I know it, you know it, we know it, they know it … 

Yeah.

People have probably worked out by now, I like watching movies.

And, for the past few weeks … ?

I’ve managed to get hold of quite a few good films.   Some are works of art, if not out-and-out masterpieces.

Others have been, if not THAT good, then certainly very watchable.

Very watchable, indeed.

THEN there’s the film I’ve caught, tonight: the 2000, very explicit — and I mean VERY explicit! — thriller, Baise-moi.

Which is possibly going to take some explaining … 

~≈†≈~

No, really, explaining.

Translated — by different companies in-house translators — as either “Kiss Me”, “Fuck Me” or “Rape Me, Baise-moi* sees Nadine (Karen Lancaume) and Manu (Raffaëla Anderson), women from the shadier parts of town.

Shadier … 

And decidedly unpleasant.

Early on, the film sees Manu and a friend being raped in an underground carpark.

Both women killing someone close — Nadine strangles her flat mate in an argument, whilst Manu shoots her brother — inside of the films open twenty minutes or so.

With a rape scene featuring unsimulated sex … ?

You can tell Baise-moi is going to be something of a mouthful … 

~≈Â≈~

Now, I have to admit to mixed feelings about Baise-moi: especially as I’d seen some of the hype it had generated on its first release, many years ago.

That’s partly what persuaded me to rent it, when I saw it floating past.

It’s a film I found somewhat enjoyable: although, I feel, one that ALSO was maybe over-hyped, and thus, a little disappointing.

It’s ALSO one I’m very aware is — outside of out and out porn‡ — features plenty of sexually explicit content†: enough to make some NOT want to watch.

It’s also a film that is pretty violent: although not, I feel, as violent as some.

But that mix of sex AND violence — including one climactic gun battle at a sex club — is going to be one that some will find seriously offensive.   As offensive — and not even as well made — as some found The Killer Inside Me.

Baise-moi … ?   Is a watchable one off.

Baise-moi   

★☆☆☆

*        Noted film website, IMDb calls the film ‘Rape Me’: rather than the more explicit —  and, I’m told, more accurate — translation, ‘Fuck Me.   Personally … ?   I have to ask, which word are you more offended by … ?

†        One or two of the more devout people I’ve met, over the years would DEFINITELY want to avoid this film.

‡        I’ll happily admit to having used the occasionally adult movie: I believe many of us have, in some way, shape, form, or another.   Let’s face it, we’re all human: we all, occasionally, need a bit of … stimulation.   The sex scenes in Baise-moi, though … ?   Are eye-catching — name me a straight male that wouldn’t say so — but ultimately ones that left me cold.