THE STRANGER
François Ozon | 2025 | France / Belgium | 2h03m | Presented in the original French audio with English subtitles.
Do we owe the world an explanation for how we feel?
Published in 1942, Albert Camus’s THE STRANGER remains unsettling because its central character refuses to give us the things we usually expect from a protagonist: a clear motive, a reassuring moral position, an explanation that makes everything fall into place.
I first read this book over 20 years ago. I've returned to it many times since, and I’m glad to see it receive a film adaptation that takes its existential questions seriously. How do we live without the certainty of a higher purpose? What do we owe other people? And can we be honest about our feelings without becoming indifferent to theirs?
Camus’s idea of the absurd begins with a familiar and very universal frustration: we want life to make sense, but the world offers no guarantee that it will. Meursault, our titular 'Stranger' won’t manufacture feelings to make other people comfortable. Whether that makes him honest, callous or dangerously passive is a question the film leaves you to wrestle with.
When Meursault’s mother dies, he attends her funeral without crying. He drinks coffee, smokes and resumes the pleasures of everyday life. Later, after he kills a man, these details become central to his trial. The prosecution scrutinises his conduct as a son alongside his actions as a killer. How quickly does an absence of visible grief become proof of an absence of humanity? And why do the witnesses seem so certain they know what mourning should look like?
Ozon gives these questions a physical intensity. Meursault responds to sunlight, swimming and the touch of his lover, Marie, more readily than he responds to demands for declarations of love or sorrow. Cinematographer Manu Dacosse’s black-and-white images emphasise the glare of the sun, exposed skin and the contrast between open beaches and enclosed rooms.
The setting is equally important. A French director, Ozon, adapts a French author, Camus, telling the story of a Frenchman in French-occupied Algeria. That puts France’s own colonial history under examination. The freedom enjoyed by European settlers depends on a deeply unequal society. Ozon gives greater presence to the Algerian characters, including the murdered man’s sister, challenging the narrow attention paid to Meursault’s predicament. His outsider status does not place him outside the prejudices or privileges of his world.
For me, that makes this a particularly worthwhile return to Camus. Alongside the question of why one man will not express his feelings sits another: why does everyone spend so much time examining his inner life, while giving so little attention to the life he has taken?
10% OFF FOOD, PLUS GROUP DEALS
Dinner before a film at FOMO is now sorted! We’ve arranged special offers with our two favourite places to eat in Bazari Orbeliani, both right next door to FOMO:
10% off at La Focacceria
20% off at Potato Factory
Potato Factory 2+1: buy two and get one free
Potato Factory 3+2: buy three and get two free
Simply show your Fienta ticket when ordering.
You’re welcome to eat in the Sherekilebi Bar at FOMO Secret Cinema or upstairs at FOMO Open-Air Cinema. Tell them where you’ll be sitting and they’ll bring your food to you.
FOOD AND DRINK POLICY: SHEREKILEBI Bar in FOMO Cinema opens 1 hour before the first screening of the day and closes at 01:30, serving a wide selection of beer, wine, cocktails, and non-alcoholic refreshments, as well as fresh hot popcorn! Outside food is allowed in the bar but not in the cinema. No alcohol or drinks from outside allowed. All guests are invited to arrive early and stay late!
LOCATION: FOMO Secret Cinema, Bazari Orbeliani, Tbilisi. A five minute walk from Liberty Square metro.
HOW TO FIND FOMO: Enter Bazari Orbeliani via Atoneli St above Carrefour and take the stairs on your left to Level 1. Signage on the door. You can also check our Instagram story highlights for a video showing exactly how to find us: https://www.instagram.com/s/aGlnaGxpZ2h0OjE3OTMzMTA2Mjk0MDI5MjM1
REFUND & CREDIT POLICY: If FOMO cancels a screening, all ticket holders will receive a full refund. If your plans change and you can no longer attend, we’ll issue you a credit for the value of your ticket, which can be used for any FOMO film screening within the following 30 days.
TICKETS are also available to purchase over the bar if not sold out.
FOMO Secret Cinema • Bazari Orbeliani, 0105 Tbilisi, Georgia
