Albert Camus’s enduring and enigmatic 1942 novella L’Étranger follows Meursault, a detached young man in 1930s Algeria whose indifference to social conventions and emotional expectations sets him apart from others. When he impulsively kills an Arabic man, he must face society’s judgement. François Ozon’s (8 Women, Potiche) starkly beautiful adaptation, presented in crisp monochrome, and starring Benjamin Voisin as Meursault in an appropriately internalised performance, remains faithful to the source material yet is filled with contemporary relevance, such is the endless metaphorical potential of Camus’s chilling tale.

Notes by David O’Mahony