Rethinking Pornography within the Context of the New French Extremity: The Case of Baise-Moi

Abstract

Baise-Moi (Despentes and Trinh Thi, 2000) is the story of two women who, marginalized by society, go on a destructive rampage where they ‘fuck’ and kill men. This study will discuss the anxieties the film has unearthed in relation to the alternative depiction of culturally accepted sexual roles and legitimate application of violent acts, through its subversion of the generic expectations of pornography. Furthermore, despite being progressive in form, challenging classical narrative structures and playing with generic tropes, the film is inherently a pessimistic film, because of its conservative ending that reaffirms the status quo.