Band of Outsiders
Synopsis
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 Aun...
Credits
Director (1)
Actors (14)
Production and distribution (3)
- Executive Producers : Anouchka Films, Orsay Films
- Film exports/foreign sales : Gaumont
- French distribution : Columbia France
Full credits (17)
- Screenwriter : Jean-Luc Godard
- Director of Photography : Raoul Coutard
- Music Composers : Michel Legrand, Jean Ferrat
- Assistant directors : Hélène Kalougine, Jean-Paul Savignac
- Editors : Agnès Guillemot, Françoise Collin
- Sound recordists : Antoine Bonfanti, René Levert
- Costume designer : Christiane Fageol
- Author of original work : Dolores Hitchens
- Sound assistants : Robert Cambourakis, Jean Philippe
- Camera operators : Georges Liron, Théo Robichet
- Production Manager : Philippe Dussart
- Production assistants : Patricia Finaly, Jeanne Marie Olivier
- Continuity supervisor : Suzanne Schiffman
- Make-up Artist : Janou Pottier
- Narrator : Jean-Luc Godard
- Still Photographer : Marilu Parolini
- Unit Production Managers : Ritta Sarf, Maurice Urbain
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Technical details
- Type : Feature film
- Genres : Fiction
- Sub-genre : Drama
- Themes : Murder
- Production language : French, English
- Production country : France
Box-office & releases
News & awards
Selections (5)
Hong Kong International Film Festival
Hong Kong, 2023
Focus - Jean-Luc Godard x Anna Karina : A Retrospective
About
Bande à part is a 1964 Nouvelle vague film directed by Jean-Luc Godard. It was 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."
The film is an adaptation of the novel Fools' Gold (Doubleday Crime Club, 1958) by American author Dolores Hitchens (1907–1973).
The film belongs to the French New Wave movement. Godard described it as "Alice in Wonderland meets Franz Kafka"
Famous scenes
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 Madison scene: Shortly after, Odile and Arthur decide to dance. Franz joins them as they perform a dance routine. The music is R&B or soul music composed for the film by Michel Legrand, but Anna Karina said the actors called it "the Madison dance." This scene influenced the dance scene with Uma Thurman and John Travolta in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. (A further Tarantino connection is in the name of his film production company, A Band Apart.) It also influenced scenes in Hal Hartley's Simple Men and Martin Hynes' The Go-Getter The entire dance scene was also used as the music video for the song "Dance with Me", by the music group Nouvelle Vague from their 2006 album Bande à Part. The group took their name from a scene in the movie, where Odile and Arthur are walking on a street and pass a business with Nouvelle Vague (New Wave or New Trend) in large letters over the door. They also named their 2006 album after the title of this film.
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". 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.
Noted critic Pauline Kael described Bande à part as "a reverie of a gangster movie" and "perhaps Godard's most delicately charming film".
Ranked #79 in Empire magazines "The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema" in 2010.
Source : Wikipedia
