Baise-Moi - Karen Lancaume

Firstly, a massive thank you to our Patreon supporters. Your generosity touches me deeply. These supporters have become the single biggest contributing factor to the survival of DVDBeaver. Your assistance has become essential.

What do Patrons receive, that you don't?

1) Our weekly Newsletter sent to your Inbox every Monday morning!
2) Patron-only Silent Auctions - so far over 30 Out-of-Print titles have moved to deserved, appreciative, hands!
3) Access to over 20,000 unpublished screen captures in lossless high-resolution format!

Please consider keeping us in existence with a couple of dollars or more each month (your pocket change!) so we can continue to do our best in giving you timely, thorough reviews, calendar updates and detailed comparisons. Thank you very much.

Search DVDBeaver

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

directed by Virginie Despentes and Coralie
France 2000

This DVD of Baise-Moi is compared to the Blu-ray HERE

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: 28 June 2000 (France)

Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews

DVD Review: Arrow Video - Region 2 - PAL

Big thanks to Eric Cotenas for the Review!

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	Arrow Video Region 2 - PAL
Runtime	1:13:45 (4% PAL speedup)
Video	1.66:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 7.59 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate
Audio	French Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
Subtitles	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

Comments

This DVD of Baise-Moi is compared to the Blu-ray HERE

Pretty much a slam-dunk for Arrow Video's edition (significant for being the film's first uncut British release). It appears to be the only simultaneously anamorphic and English-friendly edition of the film. One can't expect much of the image quality since it was shot on digital video in natural lighting and transferred to film (presumably this is the same master used for the French Studio Canal DVD). The Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo track is stronger on gunshots and music than ambient effects (I suspect the only reason it was mixed in Dolby Stereo was for the punk music), and the optional English subtitles are error-free.

The video extras are carried over from the previous 2003 BBFC-cut DVD. The 40-minute making-of featurette frames the discussion of the book's and and film's origins within the a public demonstration over the banning of the film (with the directors, stars, and producer in attendance). In the English-language Q&A, the directors reject the film's English release title, discuss the co-directing relationship and the extensive planning needed for such a low budget shoot, the hardcore sex scenes, and the "friendship" between the two protagonists. The trailer also seems to date back from the original UK release.

A brand new extra is Arrow's 14-page booklet featuring a brief statement by author/co-director Despentes about how the film came into being, as well as her feelings on the protagonists and their actions. Kier-la Janisse also supplies an essay on the "confrontational pleasures" the film offers that also includes remarks by Despentes about the film's race and class issues. The reversible sleeve features the original poster artwork on the inside.

- Eric Cotenas

DVD Menus