Band of Outsiders (Bande a part)
Directed by Jean-Luc Godard
Written by Jean-Luc Godard from a novel by Dorothy Hitchens
1964/France
Columbia Films/Anouchka Films/Orsay Films
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental
[box] Le narrateur: Arthur said they’d wait for night to do the job, out of respect for second-rate thrillers. How do we kill all that time? asked Odile. Franz had read about an American who’d done the Louvre in nine minutes 45 seconds. They’d do better.[/box]
I have abandoned hope regarding Jean-Luc Godard. At least this movie has several amusing moments.
Odile (Anna Karina), a language student, has revealed to schoolmate Franz (Sami Frey) that the boarder at the aunt’s house where Odile lives has a large stash of cash not under lock and key. Franz passes the info on to Arthur (Claude Brasseur) and the two immediately draw ideal into their half-baked robbery scheme.
As they kill time before the scheduled crime, the trio bums around Paris and Odile falls in love with Arthur. Arthur is besotted with American B movies, sort of a junior version of Jean-Paul Belmondo’s character in Breathless. The crime itself goes wrong in every possible way.
This has more narrative and less philosophy that most of Godard’s other films. But the style is still laid on with a trowel and Arthur is one of the most despicable anti-heroes ever.
Criterion Collection; Three Reasons
