THE STORY – Algiers, 1938. Meursault, a quiet and unassuming employee in his early thirties, attends his mother’s funeral without shedding a tear. The next day, he begins a casual affair with Marie, a work colleague, and quickly slips back into his usual routine. However, his daily life is soon disrupted by his neighbour, Raymond Sintès, who draws Meursault into his shady dealings — until, on one blisteringly hot day, a tragic event occurs on a beach.
THE CAST – Benjamin Voisin, Rebecca Marder, Pierre Lottin, Denis Lavant & Swann Arlaud
THE TEAM – François Ozon (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 120 Minutes
It’s always fascinating when films offer up unconventional protagonists. In the case of “The Stranger,” the new film from French auteur François Ozon, based on Albert Camus’ novel, the central figure is one of invisibility, possibly devoid of emotion. This may seem to imply that the film would therefore lack propulsive energy, and unfortunately, that turns out to be true – at least for the film’s first half, which almost entirely concerns itself with the daily existence of its main character. Still, like the other figures that surround him in the film, there’s something mysteriously compelling about him and his plight, if only because it’s so clearly a disruption to the established ways of the society around him.
This anti-hero is Meursault (Benjamin Voisin), a young Frenchman living in French-controlled Algiers in 1938. As befitting his personality, he lives a quiet life until one day he receives a telegram informing him that his mother has died. He journeys out to the nursing home where she spent her final days and, with no apparent grief, oversees her final vigil and burial before swiftly returning to his homestead. There, he’s reunited with an estranged acquaintance named Marie (Rebecca Marder). After spending time together swimming and watching a comedic film, they form a romantic bond, despite Meursault being ostensibly in mourning. But just because he’s come straight from his mother’s funeral and wears the customary black armband doesn’t mean that he’s grieving. In fact, his most definable emotion is apathy, as he’s pointedly unwilling or unable to make his inner feelings, if he has any, clear.
Then one day, the couple overhears their neighbor Raymond (Pierre Lottin) beating his native Algerian mistress. Of course, Meursault reacts with trademark indifference, declaring it to be none of their concern, but Marie runs out and helps to stop him, getting the police involved. When the woman’s brother hears about this violence, he and his friend begin stalking Raymond through the streets. After encountering them on the beach one day, a fight breaks out that ends with Raymond pulling a gun on them and frightening them away. Venturing off on his own, Meursault finds the concerned brother and shoots him dead. He’s subsequently arrested and put on trial for murder.
Although the plot may sound busy and twisty-turny, the manner in which Ozon delivers it is as sedate and aloof as his main character. This may sound appropriate, in an attempt to convey the unsympathetic protagonist’s worldview to the audience, but it certainly doesn’t make for a captivating film. In fact, it takes nearly half of the runtime before the traditional plot gets underway. The inciting murder is foretold via dialogue in the opening minutes, but no guns are fired for the first hour. In fact, it’s not entirely clear why the film is following this numb young man, especially because the film’s low energy and relative lack of characters to compare him to doesn’t necessarily make his dispassion apparent.
But thankfully, the film is one of the rare ones that gets better as it goes along. When actual plot mechanics kick in, Meursault’s impassive spirit becomes more and more dissonant, given his increasingly dire circumstances (which is saying something, considering the film begins with the death of his mother). In fact, the very few times when he does display some sort of outward emotion are consequently shocking. One is a perhaps expected outburst towards the film’s conclusion, but the other comes at an unexpected, yet pivotal, point. It’s the actual murder scene, and even then, his only emotion is discomfort. And discomfort not even related to the actual violence he commits; he merely grimaces when the soon-to-be victim’s knife blade reflects the sun into his eyes. Ozon directs this scene in a totally surprising way. His camera zooms in on the victim’s body, practically caressing him in his last moments of life. This gives the impression that Meursault is taking him in with a leering, desirous energy, deepening the reasons behind his sudden burst of violence.
As Meursault, Voisin adeptly takes on the surprisingly difficult task of portraying someone who lacks emotions. It would be easy for him to come across as uninteresting, but thanks to Voisin’s screen presence (not to mention Ozon’s extremely flattering camera), he remains magnetic. Marder also makes for an equally attractive (in the literal sense) screen partner, with her sympathetic energy a welcome antithesis to Meursault’s. And Lottin gives a roguish, strangely charming performance, despite playing a flat-out evil man.
The black and white photography automatically gives the film a classic beauty, aided by the well-placed lighting. And Ozon doesn’t skimp on transportive period details in the characters’ clothing, behavior, and practices. And although the misanthropic main character may serve as a personified commentary on the ways that society rejects anyone going against the status quo, “The Stranger” is a distancing, cold watch that’s sure to leave many viewers feeling completely stranded, which just may be what Ozon is going for.
