Meursault (Benjamin Voisin) works as a clerk at an office in Algiers during the French colonial occupation. A modest man who keeps to himself, Meursault finds his routine upended by the sudden death of his mother. At her funeral, he faces scrutiny from all corners for his failure to perform his grief. Meursault’s reputation for otherworldly detachment carries over to all aspects of his life, from his tentative romance with Marie (Rebecca Marder) to his indifference to professional advancement. As Meursault gets swept up in a cycle of escalating reprisals among his neighbors, tensions come to a head when he murders an Arab man on the beach. A Frenchman may offer many defenses for shooting an Arab in Algeria, but Meursault’s refusal of excuse or remorse shakes colonial society to its core. Photographed in sterling, sensuous black-and-white, François Ozon’s new take on Albert Camus’s classic novel of existentialist ennui is a landmark of adaptation, simultaneously faithful to the text and dedicated to discovering fresh perspectives in the margins.
“The intensity of THE STRANGER reminds us that Ozon has…directed some of the most credible non-supernatural horror movies of our time…. Make no mistake: this is a horror film; as you stare at the screen, the abyss it represents stares back at you.” —Glenn Kenny, rogerebert.com “The major achievement of Ozon’s film is to adapt literature without literalizing (there are just two snatches of narration that are directly lifted from source), and to honor the novel’s mystery without trying to solve it…. Ozon changes very little and so preserves the narrative’s timeless appeal: As he has always been in the book, the Meursault of the film remains magnificently resistant to diagnosis or psychologizing.” —Jessica Kiang, Variety “Ozon’s direction captures the complexity of a text that seems simple at first glance…. Shot in elegant black-and-white by Manuel Dacosse, THE STRANGER has a timeless look, a dream-like quality that keeps one on their toes. On top of this gorgeous scenery, Fatima Al Qadiri’s curious, at times ominous score reinforces the impression that something is amiss inside the pretend-paradise.” —Zhuo-Ning Su, The Film Stage
