Cine-philo. Perspectives by Nicola Davide Angerame
(2025, France, 120')
Algiers, 1938. Meursault (Benjamin Voisin), a quiet and detached clerk, attends his mother’s funeral without showing any emotion. The next day he begins a relationship with Marie (Rebecca Marder), a co-worker, and soon slips back into his daily routine. But when his neighbor involves him in shady dealings, his life is upended by a tragic event on a sun-scorched beach. François Ozon films this free adaptation of Albert Camus’s novel in stark black and white.
François Ozon (Paris, 1967) is one of the most prolific and versatile filmmakers of contemporary French cinema. After his debut Sitcom (1998), he established himself with works such as Regarde la mer (1997), Les amants criminels (1999), Sous le sable (2000), 8 femmes (2002), Swimming Pool (2003), Jeune & Jolie (2013) and Peter von Kant (2022). His films have been selected by major international festivals: in Competition at Venice with 5×2 (2004), Potiche (2010) and Frantz (2016); twice at Cannes (2003, 2013); and winner of two awards at the San Sebastián Film Festival in 2024 with Under the Leaves. Awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Film Festival in 2019, his cinema moves fluidly between drama and comedy, exploring desire, identity and memory with a singular vision.
