‘The Stranger’ Review: François Ozon's Laborious Camus Adaptation

First published in 1942, Albert Camus’ The Stranger — also known as The Outsider — was a popular fashion accessory in the post-punk ’70s, being heavy in content and light enough in weight to carry around in the pockets of the overcoats worn by devotees of the British band Joy Division. That it was what you might nowadays call “a quick read” undoubtedly contributed to its popularity, and its troubled hero spoke volumes to moody, rebellious teenagers who’d moved on from Catcher in the Rye . Around the same time, it gave proto-goth band The Cure an early hit in the form of “Killing an Arab”, which perfectly distilled the themes and narrative of the novel into two minutes and 21 seconds of art-rock.

By contrast, The Stranger — the latest film from François Ozon , a French director