The enduring influence of Jean-Luc Godard’s French New Wave classic ‘Bande à part’
Bande à part is one of Jean-Luc Godard’s most perfect films. At the forefront is Anna Karina, who gives a charming and loveable performance as Odile, a young woman who gets caught up with two wannabe thieves after informing them of a large sum of money hidden in her house. Featuring an addictive blend of comedy, irreverence, and crime, the film is as delightful as it is thrilling, with the filmmaker commenting on the power of cinema itself.
The pair of thieves, Arthur and Franz, are pretty useless when it boils down to it, with Arthur eventually losing his life during the theft after engaging in a shootout with his own uncle. Evidently, the quest for money can cause people to lose their heads and act impulsively. However, Godard also depicts the two thieves as delusional and fantasy-obsessed, highlighting the dangers of being hypnotised by images without a sense of stability to pull you back to earth.
The pair are interested in cinema, believing they have what it takes to act like the American gangsters they see during trips to the movie theatre. In Bande à part, the enticing world of crime dramas and westerns—genres that typically depict an idealised version of glorified masculinity—inspire them to escape from the mundanity of their lives.
Odile, a woman also not firmly grounded or satisfied with her own life, becomes the perfect person for Arthur and Franz to bring into their scheme. Yet, when the three break out into a choreographed dance routine during a trip to a cafe or run through the Louvre as fast as they can, Godard creates a strong contrast between the seemingly tough and criminal plan to steal some money, and the trio’s innate need for excitement and innocent enjoyment. They push their need for fun to the extreme with the robbery, but these moments suggest they just need cheap thrills in their mundane lives.
These two sequences have become incredibly influential, with the dance sequence in Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 film Pulp Fiction directly paying homage to the movie. We all know the scene in which John Travolta and Uma Thurman dance to ‘You Never Can Tell’ by Chuck Berry, but not everyone is aware that it was inspired by Godard’s film. Tarantino was once very open about his love for Godard, claiming, “That’s one aspect of Godard that I found very liberating—movies commenting on themselves, movies and movie history. To me, Godard did to movies what Bob Dylan did to music: they both revolutionised their forms.” He even named his production company after Bande à part, clearly inspired by the influential French New Wave director.
However, there came a time when Tarantino changed his stance, perhaps because of the French filmmaker’s open distaste for Tarantino’s work. He revealed he was “not really a big fan of Jean-Luc Godard anymore”, stating, “You get into him for a while, and he’s like your hero for a little bit. You start drawing shit like him, and then you outgrow.”
Still, he cannot deny the influence of Bande à part on Pulp Fiction, which is also a crime film featuring a male duo (Arthur and Franz/Vince and Jules) and a young woman who attracts one of the men (Odile/Mia). It’s not the only film that has been inspired by Godard’s crime caper, though. Martin Hynes’ independent film The Go-Getter features a re-enactment of the dance, while Hal Hartley’s Simple Man also features a scene inspired by the classic sequence, only the trio dance to Sonic Youth’s ‘Kool Thing’.
The Louvre sequence has also been interpreted various times by other filmmakers, such as Bernardo Bertolucci, who had his main trio from The Dreamers run through the gallery to try and beat the record time. Bertolucci’s film—set in 1968 Paris and featuring a cameo from French New Wave star and Godard collaborator Jean-Pierre Leaud—references many classic films, with the twins becoming caught up in an insular world of movies and pseudo-intellectualism, ignoring the real conflict going on outside their window in favour of discussing politics and cinema from the safety of their apartment.
The fact that Bande à part has been variously referenced, especially in several movies that highlight the importance of filmmaking—Agnes Varda and JR’s Faces Places is another—reflects its enduring influence as a film about art. On the surface, it might seem like a fun crime drama, but really, Godard was highlighting, like Bertolucci, the true power of cinema, where line between fantasy and reality become blurry.
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