Baise-moi Blu-ray - Raffaëla Anderson

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

Directed by Virginie Despentes + Coralie (Coralie Trinh Thi)
France 2000

The shocking French thriller Baise-moi tells the story of two young women who go on a violent spree against a society in which they feel marginalized. One of them, Manu, is brutally raped by a group of savage thugs. The other, Nadine, sells her body but refuses to give up her soul. Chance unites them and together they decide to alter their destinies. Angry at the world, they embark on a twisted, rage-filled road trip, leaving a trail of mischief and dead bodies in their wake. Written and directed by Virginie Despentes (Bye Bye Blondie) and Coralie Trinh Thi from Despentes’ novel, this raw, explosive film continues to stir controversy with its graphic mix of high-impact violence and explicit sex scenes.

***

Virginie Despentes' and Coralie Trinh Thi's adaptation of Despentes' 1995 novel arrived fresh on the heels for Catherine Breillat's ROMANCE (1999), and was quite a cause célèbre before (and because of) its banning shortly after release and subsequent protests that included the support of Breillat, Jean-Luc Godard, and Claire Denis among others (of course, just two years later Gaspar Noé would push boundaries even further with IRREVERSIBLE and then Breillat would stare into the abyss with ANATOMY OF HELL, based on her own novel "Pornocratie"). The story is simple: one day two marginalized women - prostitute Nadine (porn star Karen Bach) and occasional porn actress Manu (porn star Raffaëla Anderson) finally snap (Nadine murders her judgmental roommate Manu, who has just been gang-raped, shoots her unsympathetic brother). They meet up and take to the road, ostensibly towards the Vosges district for Nadine to deliver some fake IDs to a friend (a favor for an addict friend gunned down while trying to fill a prescription she forged for him) but - more obvious to fans of fatalistic French filmmaking - towards their own destruction (taking as many people as they can with them).

Eric Cotenas

Posters

Theatrical Release: June 28th, 2000

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Comparison:

Arrow Video - Region 2 - PAL vs. Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

Big thanks to Eric Cotenas for the DVD captures!

Box Cover		Bonus Captures:
Distribution	Arrow Video - Region 2 - PAL	Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:13:45 (4% PAL speedup)	1:17:28.602
Video	1.66:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 7.59 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s	1.66:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 26,321,495,933 bytes Feature: 23,657,447,424 bytes Video Bitrate: 36.90 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate DVD:
Bitrate Blu-ray:
Audio	French Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo	DTS-HD Master Audio French 1555 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1555 kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 16-bit) Commentary: Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps
Subtitles	English, None	English, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Arrow Video Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1.66:1 Edition Details: • Making-of (4:3; 40:30) • Q & A session with the directors/writers Coralie Trinh Thi and Virginie Despentes (4:3; 8:15) • Theatrical Trailer (4:3; 1:18) • Collector’s booklet featuring writing on the film by author Kier-la Janisse and 'The History of • Baise-moi' by Virginie Despentes. • Reversible Sleeve DVD Release Date: March 25th, 2013 Amaray Chapters 12	Release Information: Studio: Kino 1.66:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 26,321,495,933 bytes Feature: 23,657,447,424 bytes Video Bitrate: 36.90 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: • NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historian Kat Ellinger • The Making of Baise-Moi: A Forty Minute Documentary Featuring Interviews with Directors Virginie Despentes, Coralie Trinh Thi and Stars Karen Bach, Raffaëla Anderson (40:33) • Q&A Recording with the Directors (8:17) • Theatrical Trailer Blu-ray Release Date: July 27th, 2021 Standard Blu-ray Case Chapters 10

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Kino Blu-ray (July 2021): Kino have transferred Virginie Despentes + Coralie's Baise-Moi to Blu-ray with the uncut version. As Eric Cotenas describes on our 2013 DVD review, HERE, "One can't expect much of the image quality since it was shot on digital video in natural lighting and transferred to film". While you can see the improvement below, as compared to the old DVD (richer contrast - deeper black levels and colors, brightness, detail etc.) it is still filled with digital noise (albeit less) and 'rough' looking visuals - that are totally a function of the original production process limitations. As it stands, this is still a massive improvement in 1080P over the 2013 DVD - as Eric states "presumably this is the same master used for the French Studio Canal DVD." You could say that the film is entirely more watchable in this HD presentation.

NOTE: We have added 38 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Kino use a DTS-HD Master 2.0 channel track (16-bit) in the original French language. Baise-Moi has many aggressive moments of violence, screaming and gunfire that come through with modest intensity with a score by musician Varou Jan and other music including Ouvre-Moi written and performed by Virago as the songs Pusher, Sweet Belly and From Cause written and performed by Wei Ji plus music by Le Peuple de l'Herbe and others. The audio is clean but has rougher, scattered patches - also in-line with the production. Kino offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Kino Blu-ray offers a new commentary by Kat Ellinger. She relates her most personal views about Baise-Moi including her own assault experiences. She discusses the film as being misunderstood and how people misinterpret the the title's meaning. She talks about Virginie Despentes' empowering, autobiographical manifesto, King Kong Theory (which Kat quotes), violence being 'cultural capital', and feminism. How Baise-Moi is drawing from personal experience, anger, ideas regarding victim-hood, judgments, the #MeToo movement, double standards, silence about rape, films like I Spit on Your Grave, Ms. 45, her own rape-revenge fiction. It is very effecting and inspiring - possibly her best, and certainly her most personal, commentary to date. Thank you Kat! Kino repeat the 8-minute Q + A recording with the Directors (rejecting the film's English release title) and the excellent 40-minute Making Of documentary featuring interviews with directors Despentes, Coralie and stars Karen Bach, Raffaëla Anderson and a discussion of the banning. Lastly is a trailer.

Virginie Despentes + Coralie's Baise-Moi is a harsh experience. It has a mixture of graphic violence and explicit sex scenes. I appreciated it significantly more after listening to Kat's commentary. We should be thankful we have the uncut version here on Kino's new Blu-ray. The 'a/v is the a/v' but this is a notable step forward from any pervious digital editions and the Ellinger commentary is essential. Recommended to a select, open-minded, audience.