i have just finish watch luchino visconti 1967 adaptation of albert camus novel the stranger ( aka the outsider ) and i want to share my thought . i will start by say that it be a few year since i read the book but a review of the film i skim before watch it and my own surprisingly thorough recollection indicate that visconti film be a rather close adaptation . the central premise of the stranger be that mersault and a normal man and commit a crime accidentally and be punish ostensibly for that crime but actually for his inability to fit in with the absurd society that he be a part of . this society be apparently bent on upholding tradition with no regard for the difference in individual represent meursault be often emotionless when society expect him to be most emotional . at the beginning of the film meursault go to his mother funeral and appear rather stoic . we learn later that he see death a a natural part of life while just a she have live she must die . for meursault mourn his mother death would be like mourn a sunrise . meursault and his mother relationship have actually end on good term when she be alive and there be no reason for him to heap honor on her when she could no longer benefit from them . unlike most people and meursault isn not willing to show off emotionally for others . next we see meursault have a relationship with an attractive woman about his own age . society expect these two to fall in love and get marry while this be something that the woman never think twice about . our hero just doesn not see the point and however represent he happy enough to enjoy this woman company but he doesn not feel like commit himself to her for the rest of his life . it logical represent why should he change thing when they be go well already . once again he isn not willing to pretend in order to conform to society expectation . the central event in the film be the a murder commit by meursault . due to his friend indiscretion with a young woman meursault be draw into a fight with that woman brother and some other men . one of the men have a knife and meursault friend produce a gun represent fear a hasty murder he take the gun away from the man and stick it into his pocket . later and by chance and he run into the knife wield man again represent he think he see the knife ( it ambiguous whether it actually there or just some other object that reflect the sun ) and shoot the man several time . at his trial meursault once again refuse to conform to expectation represent he doesn not care what the judge or jury think of him . the trial be utterly absurd while more be say about his lack of emotion at his mother funeral than his actual crime . essentially and he be on trial for be a noncomformist . in prison we see that he doesn not regret what he do though he may regret the absurd world he live in . in fact he get most emotional when he run across his opposite represent a man who be so catch up in conformity that he be little more than a shadow of a man . that man be of course a priest and it obvious that the story be mean to show contempt for this non thinker . the utter absurdity of a man who shun logic preach to a logical man be almost too much for both of them but it the priest who must retreat from the cell . the stranger successfully portray the difficulty a logical and self aware man have living in an absurd conformist society thus encapsulate camus existentialist philosophy . visconti film be a bit hard to separate from the source while the film have some brilliant idea but theyre just copy over . still and i think even copy these idea successfully into a new medium be pretty impressive . the film also do a really excellent job with light . someone could surely write a nice essay about the lighting in this film but i would not bore you far with an attempt to do so and i know this be a bit long . still and this be my first visconti and i be pretty impressed . i find it a bit inexplicable that many people dislike this and do not think it express the novel idea very well .