Band of Outsiders

Anna Karina Director: Jean-Luc Godard Jean-Luc Godard

Overview

Jean-Luc Godard's classic Band of Outsiders gets the treatment it deserves from Criterion. The film is presented in the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.33:1. The French soundtrack is rendered in Dolby Digital Mono. English subtitles are accessible. Supplemental materials include interviews, a documentary made at the time of production, an explanation of the visual and verbal jokes found throughout the film, trailers, the Agnès Varda short Les Fiancés du Pont Mac Donald, and a 16-page booklet with additional information about the making of the film. This is the kind of release that has made Criterion one of the premiere names in home video.

Product Details

Release Date:	03/21/2010
UPC:	0037429170328
Original Release:	1964
Source:	Criterion Collection
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[B&W]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono]
Time:	1:35:00
Sales rank:	25,386

Special Features

New high-definition digital transfer, supervised by cinematographer Raoul Coutard; Visual glossary of references and wordplay found throughout Band of Outsiders; Interview excerpts with director Jean-Luc Godard and rare behind-the-scenes footage of Band of Outsiders from the 1964 documentary La Nouvelle Vague par Elle-même; Exclusive interviews with Raoul Coutard and actress Anna Karina; Agnès Varda's silent comedy Les Fiancés du Port Mac Donald, featuring Godard and members of the cast of Band of Outsiders; Two theatrical trailers, including Godard original; Sixteen-page booklet including an essay by poet Joshua Clover, character descriptions by Godard, and a reprinted 1964 interview with the director; New and improved English subtitle translation; Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Anna Karina	Odile
Claude Brasseur	Arthur
Sami Frey	Franz
Louisa Colpeyn	Mme. Victoria
Michel Delahaye	Doorman at School
Danièle Girard	English teacher
Jean-Luc Godard	Narrator
Claude Makovski	Pupil
Ernest Menzer	Arthur's uncle
Georges Staquet	Legionnaire

Technical Credits

Jean-Luc Godard

Jean-Luc Godard	Director,Screenwriter
Antoine Bonfanti	Sound/Sound Designer
Francoise Collin	Editor
Raoul Coutard	Cinematographer
Philippe Dussart	Producer,Production Manager
Agnès Guillemot	Editor
René Levert	Sound/Sound Designer
Michel Legrand	Score Composer

Scene Index

Side #1 --
1. "My Story Begins Here" [7:05]
2. For Latecomers [1:44]
3. Loui's School [2:29]
4. Romeo and Juliet [6:33]
5. French Kiss [5:06]
6. The Accomplice [4:49]
7. The Stash [3:10]
8. The Interrogation [2:46]
9. Truths and Tigers [5:04]
10. Lies and Libations [6:14]
11. "A Minute of Silence" [2:31]
12. The Madison [4:13]
13. Love and Bullets [3:42]
14. Odile's Ode [2:21]
15. The Morning After [2:36]
16. A Change of Plans [6:18]
17. Killing Time [2:08]
18. Pressures and Preparations [3:00]
19. The Approach [4:32]
20. Up and Out [4:47]
21. The Heist [6:33]
22. "A Dark Foreboding" [4:21]
23. Going South [4:09]
1. Becoming a Film Lover [1:47]
2. Jean-Luc's Discovery [5:28]
3. An Actor's Director [5:07]
4. Anna's Foul Language [:40]
5. Raoul Coutard [2:17]
6. Bumping Into Claude [:54]
7. Fan Mail [1:07]
8. Favorite Scenes [1:02]
1. Taking Risks [1:56]
2. Necessary Solutions [2:20]
3. Lighting Interiors [1:07]
4. Shooting Exteriors [1:19]
5. Depending on His Mood [2:10]
6. The New Wave [2:08]

Menu

Side #1 --
   Play the Movie
   Chapters
   Color Bars
   The Loot
      Visual Glossary
         Play All
         Entries
            Legrand's Credit
            "Cinema"
            Fool's Gold
            Legrand's Theme
            Queneau's Odile
            "Cold and Forsaken"
            Franz's Namesake
            Billy the Kid
            Soft Skin
            Lang's House
            Quoting Eliot
            Shakespeare
            Odile's Namesake
            The Tiger
            Legrand's Umbrellas
            The Gold Rush
            Mr. Segalot
            The Madison
            Arthur's Namesake
            Nouvelle Vague
            Aragon's Les Poètes
            Godard's Mother
            Madwoman
            Loopy De Loop
            London's Nam-Bok
            "That Guy"
            Anglarès
            The Louvre
            Rimbaud's Poetry
            The Immigrant
            Godard's Finale
      Godard 1964
         Play
      Anna Karina
         Play
         Index
      Raoul Coutard
         Play
         Index
      Les Fiancés du Pont Mac Donald
         Play
      Trailers
         Original
         Re-Release
   Subtitles
      Subtitles: On
      Subtitles: Off

Editorial Reviews

In 1963, director Jean-Luc Godard deftly changed gears from the CinemaScope corrosion of Contempt to the rough-and-ready black-and-white of Band of Outsiders. From the outset of the rinky-dink credits, the film never relents on charm, dwelling in the same petty-crime mind-set that haunted Breathless -- and in a world where characters are as likely to talk to the audience (often about other movies) as to each other. Living with her aunt in the permanently overcast outskirts of Paris, Odile (Anna Karina) finds herself caught between two semi-tough nuts, Franz (Sami Frey) and Arthur (Claude Brasseur), who, among other ploys, infiltrate Odile's language class in order to pass her suggestive notes. Not unlike Godard himself, this unsteady trio is already in firm command of filmic gestures, and consequently Band of Outsiders is suffused with a slew of ecstatic only-in-the-movies moments. Woven throughout the loopy, romantic plot are Brasseur’s resonant impression of a gunshot from Billy the Kid, a light-speed run through the entirety of the Louvre, and a hilarious, whispered voice-over that updates latecomers as to what’s transpired 15 minutes into the film. Although the boys eventually rope Odile into a fatally botched heist, the story remains effervescent. The scene where all three dance the Madison remains sublime and eternal, marking this possibly as the most purely pleasurable of Godard's films.

Barnes & Noble - Eddy Crouse

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.

All Movie Guide - Louis Schwartz