Film Review: The Stranger Is A Bleak, Beautiful Meditation That Lingers

★★★★☆

The Scoop The Stranger French film Palace Cinemas

François Ozon’s The Stranger feels like an uneasy trance, until it shakes you awake in the most alive, vigorous way.

Adapted from Albert Camus’ 1942 novel L’Étranger, Ozon’s film poses existential questions in a political climate that feels uncomfortably relevant to today.

Shot entirely in black and white, the story centres around Meursault (Benjamin Voisin), a young clerk in French colonial Algeria, summer 1938. He attends his mother’s funeral without emotion and begins a casual affair with Marie (Rebecca Marder).

Life carries on as normal until he’s drawn into the violent orbit of his volatile neighbour Raymond (Pierre Lottin). One steaming hot day at the beach, Meursault shoots a young Arab man, Moussa (Abderrahmane Dehkani), dead on the sand. What’s gobsmacking is how he cannot, or will not, feel anything.

The film is visually striking. The stark black and white and simple, long-held shots create intrigue mixed with discomfort.

Let’s face it, we’re not used to monochrome anymore, and minimalistic filmmaking seems worlds away from this scrolling world full of quick cuts and shiny things. But Ozon forces us to sit with the moments, to wonder about this strange, detached character.

The whites are pushed to almost glary — a deliberate choice to push the idea of being ‘dazzled by the light’. It’s a bold move that paid off, with director of photography Manu Dacosse winning Best Cinematography at Venice. In one exquisite scene, Meursault and Marie lie together on a pontoon, all salty, sweaty, sexy skin on skin; you can almost smell the salt and feel the sun.

Benjamin Voisin, who also featured in Ozon’s Summer of 85, tackles the challenge of making nothing feel compelling. He barely speaks for the first hour, and his deadpan restraint is completely unnerving. It builds to a climax that’s explosive and alarming, cutting straight to the bone.

Marder is buoyant, enraptured, and determined to look beyond a reality that threatens to spiral. She perfectly balances wilful blindness with an intelligence underneath.

Lottin, who won the César for Best Supporting Actor, is excellent as the volatile, animalistic Raymond.

There are tedious moments — the courtroom drags — but the restless tension serves the eruption that follows. The prison cell scene with the priest is like a slap in the face. When Voisin finally breaks out, it feels primal and powerful, and Camus’ philosophical questions about the meaning of life hit hard.

Ozon gives the story a contemporary lens, making the Arab experience more prominent. Where Camus left them nameless and invisible, Ozon gives them a presence. He names the murdered man, Moussa, and develops his sister Djemila (Hajar Bouzaouit) into a full character.

The French indifference toward the Arabs in the film is stark. The dehumanisation it captures extends well beyond 1938, and feels sadly relevant today.

The Stranger smacks you awake with some of the biggest life questions you’ll ever ponder. It’s rare for a film to leave you this alive with questions, but The Stranger does just that, in the most stunning way.

The Stranger opened on 16 April and screens nationally at Palace Cinemas. It opens in South Australia and Tasmania from 23 April, and the Sunshine Coast from 29 April.

Tickets are on sale now.

Website: https://www.palacefilms.com.au/the-stranger

Socials: https://www.instagram.com/palacecinemas/

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