- The Observer,
- Sunday March 10, 2002
Plastering the walls of Tube stations with the words 'Baise-Moi', meaning 'Fuck Me', was deemed by the Tube's advertising watchdog this weekend as 'likely to cause offence to French tourists'.
The film, exploring themes of rape, violence against women, poverty and punk rock, has drawn heated reactions from critics after being passed uncut by British censors for release on 3 May.
Baise-Moi, directed by Virginie Despentes and Coralie Trinh and based on Despentes's best-selling novel, is a female revenge fantasy in which two young women embark on an odyssey of sex and violence. Dubbed 'a French Thelma and Louise ', it stars Raffaela Anderson and Karen Bach, hardcore porn actresses. It includes close-ups of genitalia and a scene in which a man is killed by having a gun inserted in his anus and fired.
The poster for the film is artily abstract, but the Advertising Viewing Committee thought the use of the words 'Baise-Moi' could be disrespectful to French-speaking tourists.
Despentes said last night: 'I can't believe they think this will offend people, especially French people - you see much worse if you go into a London telephone box.'
