Bande à part

1964 Director Jean-Luc Godard

Based on Dolores Hitchens' novel Fool's Gold this is one of Jean-Luc Godard's most pioneering films. Many of the techniques perfected here went on to become the defacto way of doing things. This is a set piece in any serious cinema student's curriculum.

It tells the tale of three disaffected youths who plan a burglary with deadly results. The alienated young trio is marvelous, particularly Anna Karina, and the early scenes of their clearly overdeveloped fantasy lives are splendidly handled. Of note are the race through Le Louvres and the now famous Cafe dance routine.

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 naivety 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.