Main Cast: Anna Karina, Claude Brasseur, Sami Frey, Louisa Colpeyn
Release Year: 1964
Country: FR
Run Time: 97 minutes
Plot
One of pioneering director Jean-Luc Godard's most accessible films is this French spin on Dolores Hitchens' novel Fool's Gold. It tells the tale of three disaffected youths who plan a burglary, leading to deadly results. The alienated young trio is marvelous, particularly Anna Karina, and the early scenes of their clearly overdeveloped fantasy lives are splendidly handled. Something of a companion piece to Godard's classic À Bout de Souffle, its young characters have the same odd mixture of fatalism and starry-eyed naïveté that is, by turns, appealing and tragic. Trivia buffs should note that the film gave its name to Quentin Tarantino's production company (A Band Apart), and several of its scenes are echoed in his Pulp Fiction. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
Review
Bande à part is the story of three alienated French youths (Odile, Arthur, and Franz) who attempt an ill-fated burglary. Bande à Part is one of the easiest Godard films to follow because its story is presented linearly and without disruptive montage. Although the film does not generate much narrative tension, it does capture the atmosphere among Odile, Arthur, and Franz. Bande à part contains two of the most memorable and exciting scenes of the French New Wave: a scene in which Odile, Arthur, and Franz run through a museum, and a scene in which they dance to a jukebox in a cafe. The dance scene has been borrowed in many films, including Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Rio Das Mortes and Hal Hartley's Simple Men. Bande à part is driven by its actors and the chemistry among them. It uses their interactions to document the feeling of being young and French in the early 1960s. ~ Louis Schwartz, All Movie Guide
Michel Delahaye - Doorman at School; Danièle Girard - English teacher; Ernest Menzer - Arthur's uncle; Georges Staquet - Legionnaire; Jean-Luc Godard - Narrator; Claude Makovski - Pupil
Credit
Jean-Luc Godard - Director, Francoise Collin - Editor, Agnès Guillemot - Editor, Michel Legrand - Composer (Music Score), Raoul Coutard - Cinematographer, Philippe Dussart - Production Manager, Philippe Dussart - Producer, Antoine Bonfanti - Sound/Sound Designer, René Levert - Sound/Sound Designer, Jean-Luc Godard - Screenwriter, Dolores Hitchens - Book Author
Bande à part (French pronunciation: [bɑ̃d a paʁ]) is a 1964 film directed by Jean-Luc Godard. It is released as Band of Outsiders in North America; its French title derives from the phrase faire bande à part, which means "to do something apart from the group."
Odile (Anna Karina) meets would-be criminals Arthur (Claude Brasseur) and Franz (Sami Frey) in an English language class. At some point, she tells Franz that there is a large amount of money stashed in the villa where she lives with her Aunt Victoria and a certain Mr. Stoltz in Joinville near Paris; and Franz and Arthur persuade her to assist them in staging a robbery in her own home.
Meanwhile, both Franz and Arthur try to seduce Odile, with Arthur being the more successful.
Unfortunately, Arthur's uncle somehow learns of their plot and wants to commit the robbery himself. This forces Franz, Arthur, and Odile to rush into the robbery faster than they would have liked. Moreover, by this time, Mr. Stoltz has grown suspicious of Odile's behavior, has hidden his money, and has changed the locks on all the doors.
When they arrive, Franz and Arthur tie up Odile's Aunt Victoria and stash her in an armoire. They only find a small amount of cash on hand, and when they return to threaten Aunt Victoria further, they find that she is no longer breathing. They decide to flee the scene as soon as possible, but after they are on their way Arthur returns alone on the pretext of verifying that Victoria is, in fact, dead.
In fact, having realized that most of the money had been hidden in the doghouse, Arthur plans to take it all for himself. Driving along the highway, Franz sees Arthur's uncle heading in the direction of the villa, so he and Odile return to the house in time to see Arthur be shot by his uncle and shoot his uncle in return. At this point, Mr. Stoltz arrives and snatches up his money, and Aunt Victoria (who we presume was playing dead) rushes out of the house.
Odile and Franz take their money and buy passage on a ship to South America. The movie ends with the promise of a sequel chronicling Odile and Franz' adventures in America.
Famous scenes
(l. to r.) Arthur (Claude Brasseur), Odile (Anna Karina) and Franz (Sami Frey) turn to different positions as they dance what they called "the Madison dance."
A minute of silence: In one scene, Arthur, Franz, and Odile are in a crowded café and decide to observe a minute of silence; as they do so the film's soundtrack is plunged into complete silence. This silence actually lasts only 36 seconds and is interrupted by Franz, who says "Enough of that."
The Louvre scene: In one scene, the characters attempt to break the world record for running through the Louvre. And the narration informs that their time was nine minutes and 43 seconds which broke the record set by Jimmy Johnson of San Francisco. That scene is referenced in Bernardo Bertolucci's The Dreamers (2003), in which its characters break the Louvre record.
Status
Bande à part is often considered one of Godard's most accessible films; Amy Taubin of the Village Voice called it "a Godard film for people who don't much care for Godard".[6] Its accessibility has endeared the film to a broader audience. For example, it was the only Godard film selected for Time Magazine's All-TIME 100 movies.[7]
Noted critic Pauline Kael described Bande à part as "a reverie of a gangster movie" and "perhaps Godard's most delicately charming film".[8]
