I read 'The Outsider' by Albert Camus at 19, not expecting much, but soon found it unputdownable, pausing for a smoke every time
Meursault did in the book. On finishing it, there was a sensation of having read something truly outstanding, concise, articulate, not-happy yet
hugely likeable. It remains an all-time favourite, unequalled until I read Donna Tart's 'The Secret History' some years later.
What of the film? Only after watching Visconti's classic "Ossessione" in 2004 did I become aware of its existence. It appears that no
VHS or DVD edition has ever been issued - strange, considering it received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Foreign Film. Search youtube and there it is, in 11 parts. Kudos to AzeriNY for making it available to a wide audience; there are many comments on the channel and videos expressing gratitude; while the quality of the vids ain't great, better seen than not seen.
So, is it a good film? It's OK. It's faithful (as far as I can recall), adequate, not bad, not great, at worst perfunctory. For sure, Visconti's output was erratic, the book was always gonna be a hard act to follow, and - the book is always better than the film.
I don't intend entering a full discussion on Camus, existential philosophy or the absurd here...merely some observations arising from my recent viewing of the film which may appear a little disjointed.
One thing that may have gone over my head as a young man was the nullity of a crucial, central scene of both book (and film): the trial.
What's really being judged here are Meursault's passivity, bald honesty, indifference and perhaps amorality;
the act of manslaughter for which he is being tried an incidental near-irrelevance. Circumstantial evidence is construed to his detriment by the moralistic kangaroo court; credible, upright witnesses are poo-pooed and his defence lawyer while sincere is powerless and shot down.
A captive, scandalised gallery lends further inevitability to what seems like a foregone conclusion. Does this whole procedure
resemble a communist show-trial?
When the manslaughter does enter proceedings, it is only in relation to the questions "Why did you fire the second shot?" and "What made you do it?".
Meursalt answers "I don't know" to the first and "I think it was the sun" to the second. Here Camus articulates a daringly confounding, germane notion: There isn't always a reason, precedent or an explanation for everything.
It's noteworthy that the impoverished pied-noir Camus' unorthodox socialism lead to his falling from favour with conformist bourgeois marxists like Sartre, whose rôle in resisting the Nazi occupation was minor compared with Camus'; probably no coincidence then that Sartre wholeheartedly supported the 1956 Russian clampdown in Hungary while Camus firmly opposed it.
Anyone else notice the resemblance between Marcello Mastroianni and Patrick Mc Goohan in "The Prisoner"?
Anna Karina makes some brief appearances in the movie as Meursault's girlfriend.
I think I would have been awestruck by this film had I seen it as a late teen soon after reading the book.
I no longer smoke, but I believe it's a sign of growing older that I'm not really gone on it now.
The older I become the harder I am to impress.
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Update: A complete and better quality version of the film may be available via this Anna Karina fansite.
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