In the novel, the man Meursault shoots is – powerfully – simply “an Arab”. Ozon chooses to enhance the colonial background, beginning his film with contemporary footage of Algiers.

It takes courage to adapt such a seminal text as Albert Camus’ 1942 novel L’Étranger. Not only is it a classic in the literature of the absurd and one of the most read French-language novels in the world, it’s also an introspective first-person narrative that director François Ozon has to convey visually. He has risen to the challenge by remaining largely faithful to the original story, enabling Benjamin Voisin to deliver a convincingly absent and opaque performance as the protagonist, Meursault, enhanced by comparisons with the everyday feelings expressed in the faces of those around him. Meursault remains impassive when he learns of his mother’s death: he does not cry at her funeral and afterwards he goes with his girlfriend to see a comedy at the cinema.

Get Instant Access

Continue Reading

Register for free to read this article in full

REGISTER

Subscribe for unlimited access

SUBSCRIBE NOW

From just £37.50 quarterly

  Print copy of The Tablet delivered directly to your door.
  Complete access to all Tablet website content including all premium content.
  Access to the weekly digital copy of The Tablet.
  Full access to The Tablet’s archive – over 180 years of back issues.

Already a subscriber? Login