The Stranger (L’Etranger) (15)

Director Francois Ozon. French with English subtitles. 2h.

One way to view Francois Ozon’s The Stranger is simply to be seduced by its languid sensuality, rendered by Manu Dacosse’s gorgeous monochrome lighting and lead actors Benjamin Voisin (Mersault) and Rebecca Marder’s (Marie) sensual entanglements. The other is to try and work out what is going on with Mersault, Camus’ archetypal anti-hero. You’ll know the story: murder under the blazing Algerian sun and Mersault’s dogged refusal to swerve the inevitable execution that’s waiting for him. Ozon’s is a gently queered, post-colonial reworking of Camus’ 1942 masterpiece. For all that, a film that chimes with its origins.