Dir: François Ozon, France, 2025, 122 min, French/Arabic with subtitles

Cast: Benjamin Voisin, Rebecca Marder, Pierre Lottin, Hajar Bouzaoui

Review by Carol Allen

Based on Albert Camus’ novel, this is a very different film from Ozon, who usually likes to include good roles for older women. He has though beefed up the two women’s roles from what they are in the original novel to the advantage of the film.

As Camus himself said when asked to write a preface when the novel was first published in America in 1942 “Any man who doesn’t cry at his mother’s funeral is liable to be condemned to death.” – which pretty much sums up the story.

Meursault ((Benjamin Voisin) is an outsider in the Algiers in 1938 – a time when Algiers is a French colony. He has a dull office job and is uninterested in a tempting offer to transfer to Paris. He goes to his mother’s funeral and doesn’t shed a tear. He starts an affair with Marie (Rebecca Marder), a colleague from work. He appears to enjoy the sex but shows no emotion. His next door neighbour Salamano (Denis Lavant) beats his dog; Raymond (Pierre Lottin), another acquaintance, beats his girlfriend (Hajar Bouzaoui). Meursault is unmoved.

Then one day he goes to the beach with Salamano. An unrelentingly hot day. A couple of young Algerian men annoy them. Later when Meursault goes for a solitary stroll, he encounters one of the Algerians. And for no reason, he shoots him, kills him. And when he is put on trial, it is not the act which condemns him but his indifference to everything in his life.

The period and setting are evoked in crisp black and white, opening with archive footage of Algeria which tells us clearly that we have two cultures in the same physical place but not interacting with each other. It emerges that the dead man is the brother of Raymond’s abused girlfriend, but she is never called on to give evidence. The victim is unimportant in this racist society. What condemns Mersault is not the act but his indifference to it. In the long trial sequence the only explanation he offers is ““It was because of the sun”.

As Mersault, Voisin is superb. A very handsome man, he manages to grip our attention without any of an actor’s usual technique of evoking our emotions through his. The character’s total lack of feeling, his impassivity is in itself totally gripping. The supporting performances are good, particularly the repulsive Raymond and the very long trial sequence is strong drama, albeit bad law.