Close Up

15 - 27 January 2023: Band of Outsiders

bande-a-part-jean-luc-godard.jpg

Band of Outsiders
Jean-Luc Godard, 1964, 92 min

Gleefully putting into practice Griffith's maxim that all you need to make a film is a girl and a gun, Bande à part is Godard's playful tribute to the Hollywood pulp crime movies of the Forties, executed with typically Gallic cool. Franz and Arthur, a couple of streetwise chancers, team up with the shy Odile (Anna Karina) to plan a robbery. As the trio of misfits roam the cafes of suburban Paris, do a lightning tour of the Louvre, and play-act shoot-outs, the suspicion grows that this is one heist that is not going to go according to plan. As well as superb photography by Raoul Coutard and music by Michel Legrand, Bande à part – shot in just 25 days – features one of the most exhilarating dance sequences in film.


Showing as part of our year long tribute: Au Contraire: Jean-Luc Godard