The Stranger review – lustrously beautiful and superbly realised modern take on the Camus classic

François Ozon’s adaptation of the 1942 novella L’Etranger passionately honours the original text while bringing a contemporary perspective to its themes of empire and race

Let’s get metaphysical! Existentialist cinema is back, if anyone cares

The philosophy was embraced by film noir, the French New Wave and modern hitmen questioning life’s purpose. Now dust off your turtlenecks, for Sirāt and a new version of Albert Camus’ The Stranger look set to make ennui on-trend again

Shaun Micallef: ‘Charlie Pickering said that’s the only thing keeping him going – to vanquish me’

The comedian and author on writing a gothic novel, giving up butter and the film he has watched 30 times

Alexander Kluge, author and key film-maker in the New German Cinema movement, dies aged 94

A winner of the Golden Lion at Venice, Kluge was a committed pacifist and one of the last living torchbearers of the Frankfurt school of neo-Marxist cultural criticism

Orwell: 2+2=5 review – documentary portrait doesn’t wholly add up

Raoul Peck’s film about the Nineteen Eighty-Four novelist makes a compelling case for its continuing relevance but could ask more searching questions about its author

Underland review – poetic exploration of life deep beneath the Earth’s surface

Sinkholes, storm drains, manmade labs miles underground … this documentary, based on Robert Macfarlane’s book, burrows deep into some of humanity’s great unknowns

Stephen Colbert to write new Lord of the Rings film after end of the Late Show

Comedian and avid Tolkien fan to write the Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past, a new Peter Jackson-produced film based on unadapted chapters of The Fellowship of the Ring

Shoplifting, sex shows and sheepdog-breeding: great artists and the side-hustles they did to get by

John Cage appeared on an Italian quizshow. Jean Genet stole rare books. Emily Carr reared bobtails. And Kathy Acker did X-rated acts with her boyfriend … we explore the unlikely sidelines of struggling artists

Midwinter Break review – sad, spiky and brilliantly acted portrait of rupture and rapture

Polly Findlay’s barnstorming drama about interpersonal and religious tumult in late middle age is a triumph, swerving any sense of sentimentalism

Len Deighton obituary

Writer whose ‘anti-Bond’ hero in his 1962 novel The Ipcress File had a seismic impact on spy fiction

‘Orwell went off to fight. I thought I’d have to do the same’: Raoul Peck on his intimate connection with the writer

The Haitian director was given unprecedented access to George Orwell’s archives – and found a fellow crusader for truth. His extraordinary new film highlights the sinister links between Big Brother, Trump and Putin

Jessie Buckley becomes first Irish winner of best actress Oscar for Hamnet

Buckley, who plays Shakespeare’s wife Agnes in adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s novel, was favourite to win after victories in all preceding ceremonies

Paul Thomas Anderson wins first ever Oscar as One Battle After Another takes best adapted screenplay

Director won the Oscar for his critically acclaimed film based loosely on Thomas Pynchon’s novel Vineland

Jürgen Habermas obituary

Philosopher and social theorist who advocated a new direction for German thought after the horrors of Nazi rule

Readers reply: which are more like life, novels or films?

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions considers what’s ‘realistic’ in what we read v what we watch …