Band of Outsiders

Watch: Band of Outsiders

Unrated

9/18/19641h 37m

Premiere Release (US)

~ A Who-Dunit, Who's Got-It, Where-Is-It-Now Wild One From That "Breathless" director Jean-Luc Godard! ~

Overview:

Cinephile slackers Franz and Arthur spend their days mimicking the antiheroes of Hollywood noirs and Westerns while pursuing the lovely Odile. The misfit trio upends convention at every turn, be it through choreographed dances in cafés or frolicsome romps through the Louvre. Eventually, their romantic view of outlaws pushes them to plan their own heist, but their inexperience may send them out in a blaze of glory -- which could be just what they want.

Director:

Jean-Luc Godard

Status:

Released

Language:

French

Buget:

$120,000.00

Revenue:

$182,857.00

Key words:

robbery
paris, france
love triangle
louvre museum
woman between two men
bastille
nouvelle vague

Cast

Anna Karina

~ as ~

Odile

Claude Brasseur

~ as ~

Arthur

Sami Frey

~ as ~

Franz

Danièle Girard

~ as ~

English Teacher

Louisa Colpeyn

~ as ~

Madame Victoria

Chantal Darget

~ as ~

Arthur's Aunt

Georges Staquet

~ as ~

Legionary

Ernest Menzer

~ as ~

Arthur's Uncle

Jean-Claude Rémoleux

~ as ~

The Alcoholic Student

Michel Delahaye

~ as ~

The Doorman

View full cast & crew

Reviews (1)

C
CRCulver
Written 6 year(s) ago
6
Jean-Luc Godard's 1964 film Bandè a part (sometimes titled "Band of Outsiders") is an adaptation of a American crime novel that transcends its pulp origins through Godard's cinematic invention. The young lady Odile (Anna Karina), who isn't very bright, meets lowlife Franz (Sami Frey) in an English course and makes the mistake of telling him that the home in which she lives with her aunt holds a large amount of cash. Franz and fellow criminal Arthur (Claude Brasseur) plan a heist while at the same time vying for Odile's love, or at least her body. As is common in the French New Wave, the auteur only uses a crime caper as a skeleton for his own storytelling. A narrator (Godard himself) occasionally reads descriptive passages from the original novel, which are horribly purple prose, as if Godard is poking fun at his own source of inspiration.

Bandè a part has occasionally been treated as a departure from this director's work, as "Godard for people who don't like Godard". However, anyone who has seen Godard's films to date will immediately recognize elements typical of his work at the time. For example, someone reads aloud a classic work of literature, this time an English teacher in a parody of modern language-learning methods. There is leftist social commentary, as the two criminals kill time by reading aloud tragic passages from Parisian newspapers. There is also dancing, as in the film's most famous scene Odile, Franz and Arthur interrupt their plotting for an amusing line dance in a café, over which the narrator tells us their unspoken thoughts.

And then there is Godard's many references to the film canon. Bandè a part is deeply imbued with the spirit of American noir films, which fits with the crime caper plot, but it also nods to classic slapstick and romance, which gives it a levity and charm I wouldn't have expected from a film with these particular characters. Bandè a part may not be among the most awesome masterpieces of cinema, but it is memorable and funny, and very much worth seeing for fans of mid-century French films.