The Stranger
François Ozon tackles Albert Camus’ classic 1942 novella but fails to fully bring it to life.
Benjamin Voisin and Rebecca Marder
Image courtesy of Curzon Film Distributors.
by MANSEL STIMPSON
It is inevitable that my rating for this film should be something of a compromise. That is so because while on the one hand I found this latest piece from François Ozon to be as technically accomplished as one would expect, it is also my personal belief that the novella on which it is based is one of those works of literature that is virtually unfilmable. That work is L’etranger by Albert Camus more widely known in the UK under the title The Outsider and it is undoubtedly a classic. Its history is unusual in that it was published in France as long ago as 1942 with low expectations as to the range of its appeal but it subsequently started to build up a reputation in the post-war years, its popularity peaking in the late 1950s and in the 1960s. If the delayed success was unusual, it was even stranger that such an intellectual work should acquire such wide popularity. The story that it told was straightforward, but interpreting its meaning and deciding to what extent it embraced an existentialist philosophy was so challenging that over the years a whole range of experts have expressed their views on that. In such circumstances it is surprising that the novella's eventual impact was so huge that it even triggered a series of songs related to it. One of them was 1978’s ‘I Killed an Arab’ the debut single by The Cure which stemmed from reading the book. Their recording is heard here over the end credits.
The central character in The Stranger is a young Frenchman named Meursault who is living in Algiers in the 1930s and as such he echoes Camus himself since the author despite being French was both born and raised in Algeria. Meursault is immediately revealed as somebody who feels distanced from those around him, not fitting in and not wanting to do so since he rejects the hypocrisies which he recognises as being central to the society in which he lives. Given this attitude, he could be seen as a rebel and it could be that it is that aspect which led to the novella achieving a broad popularity comparable indeed to that found by Salinger with his 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye which had spoken to the dissatisfaction of the young. But Meursault is a more complex figure than Holden Caulfield since his story, told in two parts, pivots on the fact that he shoots dead an Arab youth on a beach. In those colonialist times in which the tale is set such a killing might be passed off as unimportant but, even though Meursault denies any premeditation and claims to have been affected by the sun’s intense heat, his act is one that pinpoints how difficult it is to decide just how we should view him. For, if today's attitude to racism renders the shooting even more disturbing than it would have been for readers in 1942, in other respects Meursault's outlook is in some ways ahead of its time.
The first part of The Stranger leads up to the killing, a sequence of events in which chance plays a considerable role. We witness Meursault’s unemotional reaction to the death of his mother in a rest home, his relationship with his girlfriend Marie who wants to marry him and his interaction with his neighbours including the pimp Raymond Sintès. The latter’s ill treatment of his Arab mistress provides the link that will lead to Meursault’s encounter with the man whom he kills, his victim being the brother of the mistress angry over the way in which Sintès has treated her. In contrast, the work’s second part follows Meursault’s arrest concentrating on his time in jail and then on the eventual court hearing. What the two parts share in common in the novella is that both are presented as first person narratives by Meursault and this is a crucial factor. We are made to see things through his eyes in prose which flows wonderfully well (the book is short and a very quick read) and which portrays Meursault as sharply observant. In Part I the narrative is vivid but, since he is telling his own story, he never needs to justify or explain himself and this continually invites us to speculate on what motivates his outlook and how valid it is.
When it comes to the trial, the public prosecutor will seek to portray him as a man with no moral principles referring to such matters as Meursault shedding no tears over his mother's death. But we have seen for ourselves how Meursault questions accepted social assumptions and always chooses to tell the truth as he sees it (something which appeals to Marie). He may have some feelings for his mother but refuses to believe that all sons have unconditional love for their mothers. He readily accepts his sexual needs but, being aware of so many unhappy marriages, refuses to see marriage as an important bedrock for society. He fails to see value in seeking promotion to build a career and rejects such an opportunity when it is offered. These beliefs once put together contribute to his sense that ours is a meaningless, absurd world which is why some regard The Stranger as an existential work. In Part II when a priest persists in seeing Meursault in jail the prisoner challenges any belief in God and religion despite that being held up as a pillar of society (ironically this film's prison scenes carry echoes of Pickpocket and A Man Escaped even though its view of religion is the antithesis of that held by Bresson). In both film and book Meursault ultimately embraces his own philosophy of life, but in a way that is not perhaps readily grasped.
With its admirable period sense, it is most apt that The Stranger should be shot in black-and-white and the screenplay by François Ozon himself blends admirable fidelity to the novella with effective additions. The book has been questioned over its view of the Arab characters not least by Kamel Daoud who in 2013 wrote a novel conceived in reaction to the Camus original. Ozon adds two short but significant scenes featuring the dead man’s sister which takes a comparable line. That he also introduces a hint that Meursault could be a repressed gay confirms the extent to which The Stranger invites individuals to find within it whatever themes and interpretations they may wish. But, however adroit the filming is here, Ozon cannot capture the fascination that lies in the actual prose of Camus even when read in translation and in the way that it gives the reader this outsider’s view of life from the inside. On film, with the camera observing Meursault and noting his withdrawn distanced nature, we inevitably have the opposite of that and he becomes something of a blank slate while his appeal to Marie feels inexplicable. This is no fault of Benjamin Voisin in the role and it is not, I think, chance that the supporting players – Pierre Lottin as Sintès, Denis Lavant (as a neighbour who ill-treats his dog but finds it a necessary companion) and especially Rebecca Marder as Marie – bring extra life to their characters who are freed from being seen solely through Meursault’s eyes. Consequently, Ozon’s film may well achieve more than the two earlier film adaptations which I have not seen and indeed Visconti’s 1967 The Stranger is far from being one of his most highly regarded works. But ultimately I am left with my belief that Camus found the best way to tell this story and that it becomes a pale shadow of itself when on screen that approach cannot be duplicated. Nevertheless, the lasting impact of the novel may well encourage viewers to decide for themselves just how far Ozon’s evident feeling for it is able to take him.
Original title: L’etranger.
Cast: Benjamin Voisin, Rebecca Marder, Pierre Lottin, Denis Lavant, Swann Arlaud, Abderrahmane Dehkani, Hajar Bouzaouit, Nicolas Vaude, Jean-Charles Clichet, Christopher Malavoy, Jérôme Pouly, Joël Cudennec, Christophe Vandevelde, Mireille Perrier.
Dir François Ozon, Pro François Ozon, Sidonie Dumas, Valérie Boyer and Alexis Cassanet, Screenplay François Ozon with Philippe Piazzo, from the novella L’étranger by Albert Camus Ph Manu Dacosse, Pro Des Katia Wyszkop, Ed Clément Selitzki, Music Fatima Al Qadiri, Costumes Pascaline Chavanne.
Foz/Gaumont/France 2 Cinéma/Macassar Productions/Scope Pictures/Ciné+OCS-Curzon Film Distributors.
122 mins. France/Belgium. 2025. US Rel: 3 April 2026. UK Rel: 13 April 2026. Cert. 15.
