The Stranger 

Meursault a handsome young man living an existential life in 1930’s Algiers seemingly unaffected by events around him.  His job, the death of his mother, the affections of a young woman who wants to marry him despite is ambivalence.  Willing to be carried along by lifes unpredictable currents while stylishly smoking cigarettes. His friendship with a dubious violence prone neighbor leads him to an altercation on a beach. Whilst walking alone after the event he unexpectedly comes across one of the protagonists. After a silent standoff the surprised assailant draws a knife. Meursault draws his friends gun and disinterestedly fires one bullet killing the man an Arab and afterwards fires four more shots into the dead body. Even this violent random act leaves him unmoved. He is arrested and brought to trial, found guilty because of his unwillingness use any of the plausible defenses that his lawyer could have employed to get him acquitted. This is the third filmic incarnation from the famed 1942 novel by Albert Camus.

Beautifully directed by François Ozon  Stunningly shot in black and white by Manu Dacosse.

Bejamin Voisin is hypnotic in the lead.

A musical comedy this is not, but you will, as I did watch it until the end. 458 stars