critics consensus

An oddball heist movie with an dark streak that picks apart every rule in filmmaking. Read critic reviews

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Band of Outsiders Photos

(L-R) Anna Karina as Odile and Louisa Colpeyne as Madame Victoria in "Band of Outsiders."

View All Photos (27)

Movie Info

Cinephile slackers Franz (Sami Frey) and Arthur (Claude Brasseur) spend their days mimicking the antiheroes of Hollywood noirs and Westerns while pursuing the lovely Odile (Anna Karina). The misfit trio upends convention at every turn, be it through choreographed dances in cafés or frolicsome romps through the Louvre. Eventually, their romantic view of outlaws pushes them to plan their own heist, but their inexperience may send them out in a blaze of glory -- which could be just what they want.

Genre:

drama, crime
Original Language:

French (Canada)
Director:

Jean-Luc Godard
Writer:

Jean-Luc Godard, Dolores Hitchens
Release Date (Streaming):

Jan 7, 2003
Box Office (Gross USA):

$37.7K
Runtime:

1h 37m
Production Co:

Anouchka Films, Dorsay Films
Sound Mix:

Mono

Cast & Crew

Anna Karina
Odile

Sami Frey
Franz

Claude Brasseur
Arthur

Jean-Luc Godard
Le narrateur

Chantal Darget
Arthur's Aunt

Michel Delahaye
Le portier

Show all Cast & Crew

Critic Reviews for Band of Outsiders

All Critics (49) | Top Critics (20) | Fresh (46) | Rotten (3)

Behind its substantial charm and light touch is a movie that's more morbid, alienated, and personal than it lets on.

May 5, 2016 | Rating: A | Full Review…

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky
AV Club
The film sees Godard parsing out his feelings for Karina, then his wife, and meditating on the mercurial nature of his own preoccupations.

September 7, 2011 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…

Jaime N. Christley
Slant Magazine
This 1964 feature remains one of Godard's most appealing and underrated films, relatively relaxed and strangely optimistic.

March 3, 2008 | Rating: 4/4

Dave Kehr
Chicago Reader
One of Godard's most accessible pictures. A good place to learn how much of a debt modern cinema owes him.

December 30, 2006 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

Empire Magazine
Grave, light-hearted and quietly poetic.

October 21, 2006 | Full Review…

Philippa Hawker
The Age (Australia)
One of Godard's most open and enjoyable films.

February 11, 2006 | Full Review…

Time Out
Diving into cultural malice and the crisis of being young and clueless, the film exhumes coolness and for once makes the filmmaker accessible to everyone who was ever sold into his cocky attitude only to be disappointed later.

April 16, 2020 | Rating: 5/5 | Full Review…

Shikhar Verma
High on Films
I yawned all through with what I thought was wild boredom, but realised afterwards was fury and distaste, because in fact nothing Godard does is ever boring in the sense of being uninteresting,

January 29, 2019 | Full Review…

Isabel Quigly
The Spectator
The Godard movie you use to turn people into Godard-heads, 'Band of Outsiders' wasn't, as it were, always liked.

May 6, 2016 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

Matt Prigge
Metro
Godard, the cocky provocateur, breaks every rule of filmmaking he can muster...[it's] a rejection of traditions--all of 'em, de qualité or otherwise--and an embrace of the new.

May 4, 2016 | Full Review…

Henry Stewart
Brooklyn Magazine
Besides being a stirring portrait of a youth culture in crisis, the film is very charming and accessible - especially for anyone that's experienced teen alienation...at once a snapshot in time and a timeless piece of cinema.

June 17, 2013 | Rating: 3.5/4 | Full Review…

Eric Melin
Scene-Stealers.com
So polished and assured it casts the supremely difficult illusion of being easy to make.

May 22, 2013 | Rating: 10/10 | Full Review…

Christopher Long
Movie Metropolis

View All Critic Reviews (49)

Audience Reviews for Band of Outsiders

Nov 10, 2013

Band of Outsiders is ultimately one of Godard's lesser films due to its lack of a focused plot, but it's this very same lack of focus that creates three unforgettable sequences (The minute of silence, the Madison dance scene, and the record-breaking sprint through the Louvre), and these scenes along with Anna Karina's charming screen presence make Band of Outsiders more than enjoyable enough to be worth seeing for any Godard fan.

Joey S Super Reviewer
Sep 10, 2011

Band Of Outsiders is an influential French New Wave classic by Jean-Luc Godard that features a relaxed and youthful band of three scheming an inside robbery. Endearing. Appealing.

Jan Marc M Super Reviewer
May 14, 2011

One of my favorite Godard films.

Alex H Super Reviewer
Dec 11, 2010

"A few clues for latecomers: Several weeks ago... A pile of money... An English class... A house by the river... A romantic young girl..." Two crooks with a fondness for old Hollywood B-movies convince a languages student to help them commit a robbery. <center>REVIEW</center> Very much in the same vein as his break-out hit Breathless, Band of Outsiders works just the way it is supposed to, an homage to the pulp crime novels and B- movies of America. Here, however, it is all set to the gorgeous and timeless scenery of Paris along with three very bright and engaging people. Sami Frey and Claude Brasseur play Franz and Arthur, two young men who seem to be going nowhere in life except the occasional English class and cruising around in their speedy black, American car. They meet up with a girl they both admire, Odile, played wonderfully by the beautiful Anna Karina, and soon are setting up a plot to steal money from her aunt's boarding house. This is about all the plot there is and about all the plot there needs to be. Since this is based on a dime-store novel by Dolores Hitchens, Godard knew that the climax would be the actual crime. However, what to fill the rest of the time with? Perhaps a fantastic dance number right in the middle of a Parisian restaurant, or the famous scene of the three characters running through the great halls of the Louvre. There are also some very interesting dialog scenes, such as when Arthur and Odile discuss why they like each other, or Arthur and Franz exchanging morbid stories from the newspaper. Like most of Godard's other work, many people will be turned off by his eccentric, offbeat cinematic version of the human condition. Indeed, although he was heavily inspired by American crime tales such as Orson Welles' Touch of Evil, there is a definite French twist here which is all the more entertaining for us. Still, this is certainly one of Godard's best work; completely original and thought-provoking as well as shot in beautiful, stark black-and-white cinematography that captures the rough and rugged era of Paris. Keep your mind open to the possibilities and you may just learn something... or nothing.

Lorenzo v Super Reviewer