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The Stranger

The Stranger (Lo straniero)

Movie · 1967 · 4 people

Luchino Visconti adapted Albert Camus's existentialist novel of 1942 into the 1967 drama The Stranger (Italian title Lo straniero). An Italian-French-Algerian co-production, it runs 104 minutes and is spoken in Italian and French. Dino De Laurentiis Cinematografica produced it. It was shown at the Venice Film Festival and nominated for the 1968 Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film.

The story is set in Algiers in 1935. Marcello Mastroianni plays Meursault, a man who leads a monotonous life and seems cut off from the world around him. When his mother dies he shows no visible grief. Neither his girlfriend Marie's love nor a promotion offered by his boss seems to interest him. Involvement in the affairs of his neighbour Raymond Sintès, a dubious man who lives off pimping, leads him to an unpremeditated murder. Condemned to death, Meursault refuses the absolution a priest offers. Anna Karina, Bernard Blier, Bruno Cremer, Georges Géret, Alfred Adam, Angela Luce and Georges Wilson appear alongside Mastroianni, with Jacques Monod and Pierre Bertin also in the cast.

The screenplay is an adaptation prepared by Visconti with Suso Cecchi d'Amico and Georges Conchon.

DirectorLuchino Visconti
Production companyDino De Laurentiis Cinematografica

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Cast

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Marcello Mastroianni Marcello Mastroianni Actor · died at 72 Georges Wilson Georges Wilson Film actor · died at 88 Jacques Monod Jacques Monod Film actor · died at 67 Pierre Bertin Pierre Bertin Film actor · died at 92

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Through different eyes

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

Visconti's Camus adaptation faces the hardest question in literary adaptation: how do you put inner indifference on screen? Mastroianni carries Meursault's seemingly unfeeling face with understated playing, trying to build his lack of response not as an emptiness but as a stance. Algiers in 1935 emerges as a concrete, tangible place. Even so, the film tends to cover the novel's dry, detached prose with visual richness, and Visconti's grand style does not always sit well with Camus's spareness. While trying to carry the novel's weight, the pace now and then turns static. The Venice screening and the Golden Globe nomination show that its own time took this bold attempt seriously. A flawed adaptation, but one worth thinking about.

History & Society Lens Asks about the period, the social background and what the work reflects.

Set in colonial Algiers in 1935, the film tells the story of a man estranged from the society around him. Meursault's indifference is not only a private state of mind; it raises the question of how a community regards an individual who will not follow its rules, rituals and expectations. Showing no grief at his mother's death and caring little for promotion or love cut him off from those around him. That the film is an Italian, French and Algerian co-production adds a further layer. For viewers who have not yet met Camus's existentialist questions, it opens a door onto the intellectual climate of the era, though walking through that door may take a little background reading.

Action & Thriller Fan Puts pace, tension and set pieces first; little patience for slow drama.

Hearing there is a murder, I expected a thriller, but this film is nothing of the sort. The real subject is Meursault's indifference and his monotonous life, and the pace is deliberately slow. Mastroianni is good, but for anyone after movement and excitement these 104 minutes may feel long. Give it a go if you are into literature or have read the book; otherwise save it for another night.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader reviews are below.

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