The Stranger [Lo Straniero] *** (1967, Marcello Mastroianni, Anna Karina, Bernard Blier, Georges Wilson, Bruno Cremer) – Classic Movie Review 5717

Co-writer/ director Luchino Visconti’s 1967 film adaptation of the 1942 Albert Camus classic novel L’Étranger [The Outsider] is flawed but compelling. It was nominated for the 1968 Golden Globe for Best Foreign-Language Foreign Film and nominated for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1967.

Marcello Mastroianni plays Arthur Meursault, a Frenchman living in Algeria, who for no apparent reason murders an Arab man he encounters on the beach, who was involved in a conflict with a friend. He is put on trial.

It is a low-key but magnificent performance, played out against the arid scenery of northern Africa, capturing the blank alienation of Camus’s existential anti-hero perfectly.

This is an intelligent and honest film but, while Visconti’s and writing are admirable, even he is not quite able to reconcile Meursault’s meandering motivelessness with the moral depths alluded to in the novel. Unsurprisingly, Camus’s book proves a hard nut to crack as a movie, though this is a commendable attempt.

It also stars Anna Karina as Marie Cardona, Bernard Blier as the defence counsel, Georges Wilson as the examining magistrate, Bruno Cremer as the priest and Pierre Bertin as the judge.

Also in the cast are Jacques Herlin, Marc Laurent, Georges Géret, Alfred Adam, Jean-Pierre Zola, Mimmo Palmara, Angela Luce, Jean-Marc Bory and Vittorio Duse.

It is written by Luchino Visconti, Suso Cecchi d’Amico, Georges Conchon and Emmanuel Roblès.

It is shot in colour by Giuseppe Rotunno and produced by Dino De Laurentiis.

Alain Delon was originally announced for the lead, and Visconti also considered George Chakiris and Tony Curtis.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5717

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