Directed by Jean-Luc Godard • 1964 • France
Starring Anna Karina, Sami Frey, Claude Brasseur
Four years after BREATHLESS, Jean-Luc Godard reimagined the gangster film even more radically with BAND OF OUTSIDERS. In it, two restless young men (Sami Frey and Claude Brasseur) enlist the object of both of their fancies (Anna Karina) to help them commit a robbery—in her own home. This audacious and wildly entertaining French New Wave gem is at once sentimental and insouciant, effervescently romantic and melancholy, and it features some of Godard’s most memorable set pieces, including the headlong race through the Louvre and the unshakably cool Madison dance sequence.
Director Jean-Luc Godard incorporated numerous references and quotations into BAND OF OUTSIDERS. As he explained in the December 1962 issue of Cahiers du cinéma, "People in life quote as they please, so we have the right to quote as we please. Therefore, I show people quoting, merely making sure ...
In 1964, filmmaker André S. Labarthe directed the documentary “La Nouvelle Vague par elle-même.” The following clips from that film feature director Jean-Luc Godard discussing the New Wave and its raison d'être, as well as the only behind-the-scenes footage from BAND OF OUTSIDERS known to exist.
Anna Karina starred in several of Jean-Luc Godard’s films, including BAND OF OUTSIDERS; the two were also once married and cofounded the production company Anouchka Films together. The following interview with Karina was conducted in 2002 at the Brasserie Lipp in Paris.
