Francois Ozon’s new film, The Stranger, based on Albert Camus’ famed novel, is a coldly distant film, reflective of its central character. Shot in stark black and white-reminiscent of the recent Ripley series-the story concerns a man who has absolutely no connection to his life or that of anyone else. Is he a sociopath? Does he suffer from eternal ennui? Is the point of the film, as with the novel, an investigation into how damaging a lack of connection to life, and of being unemotional, can be? Perhaps.
Courtesy Music Box Films
Ozon shoots his film, based on a book famed for vivid depictions of color, in a way that closes the audience from the proceedings. This is not unintentional. It seems the director wants us to experience the apathy with which the central figure, a man named Meursault, wanders through his existence. He, of course, is the stranger of the title. He is apart from others, and feels nothing, not about his recently deceased mother, the girl down the hall being beaten by her pimp, his nominal girlfriend or the man-spoilers-that he kills, and faces trial for his actions.
As played by Benjamin Voison, Mersault is a man without…anything, really, beyond looks and a compunction to be honest, even to the detriment of himself and others. As the book works as a straightforward experience, the film tries and mostly succeeds, even to its detriment. This is a film that despite the legendary source material, and the stark cinematography, is occasionally inert, yet Voison is never at fault. Indeed, if not for him the film would potentially be a lovely if slight adaptation of a great work.
Courtesy Music Box Films
Somehow, though, through a set of fascinating performances, great photography and careful direction, a film that could benefit from being less faithful to its source material, succeeds by the power of the parts. This is a work where we could explore the inner lives of the other characters, in relation to Mersault, though that would not be what Camus was after, and the film avoids that temptation. It understands what Camus was after, and that is the truly difficult tightrope with which one making a film on this novel must grapple. The flaws, here, are that, and this reviewer cannot be alone in thinking this, that as great as Voison is, it might have been even better if the film had been made when Alain Delon might have been able to take the part.
It is also a film that hints at an exploration of Algiers, and it is here that the film does miss an opportunity. Not to modernize the text, but to expand it. To show, in detail, what Mersaul, detached from the world around him, is missing. We get some visual depictions but little else that shows us that world, beyond archival footage over the opening credits and truly varied people walking the city streets. Instead, the film shows the French colonial government incredibly angry with a man for apparently not showing emotion, rather than killing someone, and does not deeply explore what that implies, either.
Courtesy Music Box Films
It is a greater novel than a film, but it is a fine film, though not among the more striking works of Ozon’s fascinating career. His prior film with Voison is more directly engaging. Indeed, this shares some DNA with Welles The Trial, in that it is largely an intellectual exercise, based on a work by an author more interested in statements and philosophical questioning than exploring deep emotional truths or heavy plots filled with characters that make you want to turn the page or keep watching. As such, knowing this is a film where the point is the reflect on yourself and your world through the actions and inactions of the characters, may help some viewers prepare themselves for the uniquely rewarding experience. It is certainly not for everyone.
The Stranger is now playing in select theaters.
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