‘The Stranger’ movie review: A thrillingly resolved, enigmatic literary adaptation
François Ozon’s adaptation of Albert Camus’ *The Stranger* turns the novel’s unresolved crime and existential questions into a stylish, absorbing film. Benjamin Voisin plays Meursault, a detached young man in French Algeria whose involvement in a killing unsettles the story while leaving its central ambiguities intact.
The film moves between Meursault learning of his mother’s death and his imprisonment for killing an Arab man, using a non-linear structure to build towards the crime. The review praises Voisin’s expressive restraint, Rebecca Marder’s portrayal of Marie and Denis Lavant’s supporting performance, as well as Fatima Al Qadiri’s atmospheric score.
In short
- Ozon adapts Camus’ classic with style and intrigue.
- Benjamin Voisin plays the detached Meursault.
- The film preserves the story’s existential ambiguity.
Explained simply
Albert Camus’s 1942 novel The Stranger follows Meursault, a Frenchman living in Algeria under French rule, whose apparent lack of emotion sets him apart from those around him. After his mother dies, he becomes involved in the killing of an unnamed Arab man, an event that leads to his arrest and trial.
The story explores how people judge one another and search for meaning in life, as well as the unequal power relations of colonial Algeria. The man Meursault kills is given no name in the novel, a detail often discussed in readings of its depiction of colonial society.