Bande à part reminds us that the best parts of life (and art) are often the detours—the "sidebars" where we stop to dance or run through a museum just because we can. "Band Aparte" also refers to:
: A French-American duo founded by poet Jayne Bliss and musician M. Banda aparte
: A Los Angeles-based outfit known for their consumerist critiques and moody sound. Bande à part reminds us that the best
Before the characters in The Dreamers tried it, Arthur, Franz, and Odile set the world record for running through the Louvre Museum—clocked at exactly 9 minutes and 43 seconds. It’s the ultimate middle finger to high-brow tradition, turning a temple of art into a playground. Before the characters in The Dreamers tried it,
In the middle of planning a robbery, the three main characters—Arthur, Franz, and Odile—decide to take a break in a Parisian café. They don’t talk. They don't fight. They just perform a synchronized line dance called the Madison. Godard famously cuts the music in and out so you can hear the characters' internal thoughts. It’s a scene about nothing that became everything in cinema history.
But what makes a sixty-year-old black-and-white heist movie about two restless guys and a girl still feel like a fresh breeze?
There is "cool," and then there is Jean-Luc Godard in 1964 "cool".