The Stranger

Acclaimed French filmmaker François Ozon (Swimming Pool, Potiche) offers a fresh and provocative take on Albert Camus’ classic novel of existentialist ennui in The Stranger, filmed in sterling, sensuous black and white. Meursault (Benjamin Voisin) works as a clerk at an office in Algiers during the French colonial occupation. A modest man who keeps to himself, Meursault finds his routine upended by the sudden death of his mother. At her funeral, he faces scrutiny from all corners for his failure to perform his grief. Meursault’s reputation for otherworldly detachment carries over to all aspects of his life, from his tentative romance with Marie (Rebecca Marder) to his indifference to professional advancement. As Meursault gets swept up in a cycle of escalating reprisals among his neighbors, tensions come to a head when he murders an Arab man on the beach. A Frenchman may offer many defenses for shooting an Arab in Algeria, but Meursault’s refusal of excuse or remorse shakes colonial society to its core. (Dir. by François Ozon, 2025, France, in French/Arabic with English subtitles, 123 mins., Not Rated)