The Stranger
Director: Luchino Visconti
Year Released: 1967
Rating: 2.0
Valiant attempt by Visconti to film one of the great works of literature (and, admittedly, my favorite novel) unfortunately doesn't work out - the director 'spells out' the book in detail, scene for scene, starting with Meursault's (Marcello Mastroianni) mother's funeral and ending with his own death, but the tone is off. Camus' text revels in ambiguity; no matter what Visconti tries, this can't help but be excessively literal and basically miss the point of the book. Marcello, of course, is too charismatic and "alive" to portray the title character - had Bresson helmed this, he would have (wisely) taken someone with no personality and certainly someone without the looks of a movie idol. Visconti commits a grave sin in the final scene, too: Meursault does not, would not and probably could not cry (unless, of course, a fly ended up in his eye).
