Bande à Part (1964)

Want to see it?

Seen it?

0
1
2
3
4
5
Rate this movie.

Buy it now on DVD

Starting at $22.42

Want to buy it?

Write a review

Discuss it

Add to lists

Recommend it

Get recommendations

Directed by Jean-Luc Godard.

Starring Claude Brasseur, Louisa Colpeyn, Sami Frey, Anna Karina.

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

[more]

Reviews and discussions

I love this movie.
by bitelittledogy4 in bitelittledogy4 Blog

loved it.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"I like - LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this film. What i'm ( in my opinion) about say is hard for a film lover..., uh, here it is... this maybe my favorite film! Even with all the film watching I still have to do... I deeply believe that this film will always be above the rest. " [More]

My third Godard
by sarcastig in As cool as a Fruitstand

liked it.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"Somehow, I almost feel like reviewing this film as if it was a CD, track by track, and only at the end trying to summarize my feelings about the thing as a whole. It's strange, because this film has much more of an overarching narrative than, say, masculin/feminin, and it's more coherent in tone as well than for instance L'Eclisse, yet at the same time it feels more like a collection of terrific songs than those movies. Take the Billy the Kid moment:It's not entirely random (it foreshadows a later moment in the film), but it feels like an inspired little riff, a moment that could stand by itself, almost, without knowing who and what it's about. The Louvre sequence is another example, memorably paid homage to in The Dreamers. But the moment that suddenly made me realize I was falling in love with this film was the minute of silence followed by the dance sequence:There is so much pleasure here just watching these three people move, each with their own thoughts and dreams and motivati ... " [More]

An At-Home Film Festival: catch ...
by ShaunHuston in ShaunHuston filmblog

hasn't rated it.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"The movies in our DVD collection can be broadly categorized like this:Ones that we, and particularly Anne-Marie, will watch pretty casually. These tend to be films that are simply “watchable,” that we are already pretty familiar with, and/or can be watched for individual moments. Examples of these films include Dazed and Confused (1993), 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), and L.A. Confidential (1997).Ones with which we are familiar with and may watch casually, but are more, or at least just as, likely to watch with focus. Among these films are The Godfather (I and II), The Third Man (1949), and The Royal Tenenbaums (2001). Much as Anne-Marie is more likely to pop in a movie as background, I am more likely to devote my attention to a film I've chosen to watch. Both of these categories of films are the kinds of movies we're likely to watch when home sick, or have the luxury of a lazy day.Finally, there are those that we have in our collection, but rarely watch. In some c ... " [More]

loved it.

"I very muched liked both Jules and Jim and Breathless and rate them as a couple of the best films out there, although what I see as Jules and Jim's view of human beings leaves much to be desired. However, these 2 aside, I prefer Band of Outsiders even more and of course there is Alphaville.... and Le Petit Soldat... " [More]

Review by All Movie Guide

All Movie Guide

is neutral about it.

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

Tags: New-Wave , french , criterion , louvre , alienation
View all