The Stranger / l'Etranger

Watched The Stranger / l'Etranger at the delightful Waiheke Cinema. It's based on the controversial novella by Albert Camus, set in French colonial Algiers, a pre-apartheid colonial venture (complete with segregation signs). The protagonist is a completely alienated unrooted nihilist without any empathy, love or commitment, but plenty of ennui (and autism). His motive to be a killer are completely irrelevant in his mental state - apart from, maybe, an erotic attraction to his victim (the camera does linger in close-ups just before the killing) but that may be a director's view because, as far as I can make out from his autobiographical notes, Camus was a total heterosexual. His internal logic about the inherent absurdity of life allows him to be serene/callous about any horrible and delightful events around him, from filial indifference to meaningless love. I hope I will have the fortitude to beat up the priest too, sent in on the eve of execution, if that fate ever befalls me. It is a gorgeously made film, the camera travellings are a major turn on, and I think all films should be in black and white.