Bande à part (1964)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

Jean-Luc Godard

Writers:

Jean-Luc Godard (screenplay)
Dolores Hitchens (novel)

Release Date:

5 August 1964 (France)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Plot:

Two crooks with a fondness for old Hollywood B-movies convince a languages student to help them commit a robbery.

Plot Keywords:

Paris | Paris France | Criminal Gang | Neo Noir | Newspaper

Cast

Anna Karina	...	Odile
Danièle Girard	...	English Teacher
Louisa Colpeyn	...	Madame Victoria
Chantal Darget	...	Arthur's Aunt
Sami Frey	...	Franz
Claude Brasseur	...	Arthur
Georges Staquet	...	Le légionnaire
Ernest Menzer	...	Arthur's Uncle
Jean-Claude Rémoleux	...	L'élève buveur d'alcool
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Michel Delahaye	...	Le portier
Jean-Luc Godard	...	Le narrateur
Monsieur Jojot
Claude Makovski	...	Pupil
Michèle Seghers	...	Student in English Class

Also Known As:

Band of Outsiders (USA)
The Outsiders

Runtime:

97 min | USA:95 min

Country:

France

Language:

French | English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:PG | Portugal:M/12 | Argentina:16 | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | West Germany:16 (nf) | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Chateau d'Eau, Porte des Lilas, Le Métro, Paris, France

Company:

Anouchka Films

Trivia:

The voice narrations are provided by the director, Jean-Luc Godard.

Quotes:

Le narrateur: A few clues for latecomers: Several weeks ago... A pile of money... An English class... A house by the river... A romantic young girl...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Arbeitstitel (2008)

Soundtrack:

J'entends, j'entends

Jean-Luc "Cinema" Godard

With this film Godard returned to the (petty) crime genre and his fascination with American pop culture. Odile (Karina), Arthur (Brasseur) and Franz (Frey) meet in an English language class and become friends. When naive Odile tells them she lives in a house where a large amount of money is cached, their imagination runs wild. Fantasizing and discussing Hollywood B-movies and pulp literature, they decide to rob the house with the help of Odile.

Godard goes to even further extremes in "violating" traditional storytelling with his voice-over narration, giving the viewer information during the action and letting his characters talk to the camera. It might not be Godard's most innovative release, compared to let's say BREATHLESS, CONTEMPT and TWO OR THREE THINGS I KNOW ABOUT HER, but is probably more entertaining and accessible to modern audiences than almost any other pre-1970 film he made (his later work is difficult to grasp for any audience). In the case of CONTEMPT audiences might have flocked to the cinemas because of Brigitte Bardot's presence, but besides BB-devotees, that's hardly a recommendation now. But this one generally is an entertaining and insightful film, with the dancing sequence in the bar justly memorable, as is the 9-minute tour of the Louvre.

Still, essential for movie buffs. Godard even credited himself as Jean-Luc "Cinema" Godard. Quentin Tarantino paid tribute to this film naming his production company A Band Apart.