L' Étranger

Unfathomable and provocative, Albert Camus’ 1942 novella L’Étranger continues to challenge us with the ethical and metaphysical questions it throws up. With austere precision, François Ozon embraces its enigma, refusing to clarify or dilute its power. He stays true to the text, only brushing its surface, in a film that is both stark and elegantly restrained, a pure exercise in mise-en-scène. An ordinary clerk—young, French and of no distinction—suddenly shoots an Arab man on a sun-drenched Algerian beach. Four bullets, all without discernible reason. The motive for this act of violence carried out by Meursault, the novel’s iconic protagonist, remains opaque. With somber brilliance, Ozon paints the portrait of a man stripped of emotion, detached from himself, aware of life’s lack of meaning. Benjamin Voisin perfectly embodies Meursault with his impassive gaze, often looking upward as if searching for an answer to the void within. The razor-sharp black-and-white cinematography captures Algiers’ blinding light, creating a sensual, hypnotic world in which the hero shines forth, sculptural and indifferent. Only a few key lines from the novel echo in voiceover, haunting us with its fragile sparks of humanity. (Maria Giovanna Vagenas)

François Ozon (selection): REGARDE LA MER (1997), SITCOM (1998), GOUTTES D’EAU SUR PIERRES BRÛLANTES (2000), SOUS LE SABLE (2000), 8 FEMMES (2002), SWIMMING POOL (2003), 5X2 (2004), LE TEMPS QUI RESTE (2005), ANGEL (2007), RICKY (2009), POTICHE (2010), DANS LA MAISON (2012), JEUNE ET JOLIE (2013), UNE NOUVELLE AMIE (2014), FRANTZ (2016), L’AMANT DOUBLE (2017), GRÂCE À DIEU (2018), ÉTÉ 85 (2020), PETER VON KANT (2021), MON CRIME (2023), QUAND VIENT L’AUTOMNE (2024)