I first saw a poster advertising this film on a street in Helsinki, Finland in June of 2000. What caught my attention was the proud proclamation advising all readers that the movie, although itself French, had been "Banned in France". Upon returning home to New York, I discovered that one of the "Art House" movie theaters in the City was screening the film, and so (with my Finnish fiancee) decided to see what all the fuss was about. Boy, did we ever.

From the comments read here, and the reviews I knew the movie was violent and sexually explicit. Not necessarily offended by either of these two conditions, I went with an open mind to see what had perturbed the sensibilities of our Gallic cousins. Presumably, as anyone who is reading this will know, the story involves two women who embark on a crime and murder spree in France (the movie has English subtitles). The resemblance to "Thelma and Louise" however, ends with that; the sex is unusually graphic (and in copious supply) as is the violence (a lot of stomping to death, and a lot of blood and other organic matter splattering after bullet impact).

On an intellectual level, one could make the case that the film's very essence is the relationship of sex and violence (as manifested by the only sex these women know: one is a small-time prostitute, and the other has earned money from time to time by performing in pornographic films. When they, during their descent into crime and murder, have the upper hand over their sexual situations, they react only with the same violence and brutality that they themselves know and understand. It is important to note, however, that the victims of their rampage are not only creepy men interested in creepy sex, (of which there are several)but innocent passersby, a woman at an ATM, for example, as well.

I myself do not really understand why the repeated "porn-movie" shots were all that necessary, (except to depict the physical contact as cruel, unpassionate and debased) and the unrelenting gore did get rather tedious after the first few violent spasms.

It is a coarse and crude movie, but in fairness, it is dealing with coarse and crude people and equally unpleasant circumstances. From one point of view, the lives of the French underclasses is explored, and it's pretty grim; a travelogue for France it definitely is not- perhaps that's why the French banned it.

I have never actually seen this movie before now in 2015, although I understand that it apparently did inspire a heap of other movies. So it was with some expectations and anticipation that I actually sat down to watch it.

First of all, I will say that the story was actually good and the characters equally so. And the two women lead talents were doing really nice jobs with their given characters.

That being said, then the potentially great movie was really butchered by the explicit sex scenes. It was just too much and too nasty. It was so tacky and sleazy. Director Virginie Despentes really massacred the movie with this adult contents.

If this movie had been without the explicit sex scenes, then the movie would have received a seven out of ten stars rating from me. But given the sleazy level of the movie then I am compelled to rating it a mediocre five out of ten stars only.

The DVD does come with a warning stating 'be warned - this film contains vivid scenes'. A warning that indeed should be taken to heart before watching the movie.

BAISE-MOI is another in a long line of controversial French thrillers made over the past couple of decades. This one's low budget indeed, shot with a camcorder and featuring a bunch of adult film stars in the main roles, so don't go in expecting any great shakes in the acting department. The story is about a couple of women who are traumatised after being raped by a gang of thugs and decide to take revenge on mankind as a whole. I was expecting a proper story here, but instead what I got was a series of violent set-pieces featuring sloppy gore and poor camerawork. The controversy arises from the frequent unstaged sex scenes which are pornographic in nature and have a really sleazy/grubby feel to them. It's all rather jaded and disappointing, a film far too obvious in its attempt to shock the viewer's sensibilities but also a film which has very little to say about anything.