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The Stranger

Play trailer 1:54 Poster for The Stranger Now Playing 2h 0m Drama Crime Play Trailer Watchlist
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90% Tomatometer 73 Reviews Popcornmeter Fewer than 50 Ratings
In French Algeria, Meursault drifts through life and love with mysterious detachment. When he stands accused of murdering an Arab man, indifference is his only alibi in François Ozon's fresh take on Albert Camus's classic novel.

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The Stranger

The Stranger

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Critics Consensus

Cleverly contextualizing Albert Camus' existentialist classic within a modern political lens, François Ozon's The Stranger is as intriguing to mull over as it is beautiful to look at.

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Critics Reviews

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Richard Whittaker Austin Chronicle 3d
3/5
It may well be that Ozon has made the best possible conventional adaptation of the book. Yet maybe it requires a more unconventional touch to truly translate Camus' point. Go to Full Review
Jake Wilson The Age (Australia) 4d
3/5
Ozon, for his part, goes out of his way to reassure us that his film is ultimately on the right side of history – to the point where for once in his career, this often gleefully amoral director falls prey to a certain preachiness. Go to Full Review
Deborah Ross The Spectator 5d
Miraculously, Ozon has managed to make a film about boredom without making a boring film. If nothing else, the radiant black and white aesthetic will grab you from the off and then never let go. Visually, it’s divine. Go to Full Review
Sean Burns Spliced Personality 10h
The movie is distant and aloof, which is true to the spirit of the material, if something of a drag to actually sit through. Go to Full Review
Anna Hoang Boston Hassle 1d
It is as ambitiously pretty as cinematic ennui could get, and largely stays within the margins of Camus’s work. Go to Full Review
Jim Schembri jimschembri.com 4d
5/5
It’s as though Camus has dreamed his novel onto the screen. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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greg s Apr 12 I thought it was a brilliant telling of Camus story, but with a sensuality I had not considered. See more Simon Apr 12 Beautifully filmed. Excellent acting. And, importantly, faithful to the book. See more Melissa Apr 11 Hypnotic retelling of Camus novella. See more Michael Apr 4 Great retells by of Camus’s novel. Acting was superb and I am a huge Ozon fan. See more Catherine Imogen W @RT67840195 10h I must confess that this is the film I have been waiting for! I read the book by Albert Camus decades ago. This film pretty accurate according to the text but the film made more sense. This so attractive young man is guillotined (I guess) for the murder of an Arab in Algeria, It is clearly said that the death of an Arab is nothing at that time. OK, and I think I saw the Arabic man produce a knife which was the trigger for the gun. Maybe I am wrong. What is his state of mind! I think he had a good advocate and a good priest with whom he finally bursts his mind. He smiles when his girlfriend suggests they marry, more and more. Is he so outside the world? He finally says he regrets his mother's death yet he knows that he is condemned because he did not cry at his mother's funeral. I understand the film better than the book. Imogen See more danelectro T @danelectro 2d Overall a very high quality film with fantastic black and white images, as it should be, given it is set in colonial Algeria. The film adapts the book beautifully as it paints a man who refuses to lie to women, the court, and the church, in order to satisfy common conventions that are ultimately about control (men over women, the colonial system that typically protects white men who kill Arabs, and the church over its believers by pretending to be so holy that it can forgive the unforgivable). The main actor is superb. There is a sexual thread throughout this story that I must have missed in the book, but which I enjoyed as it amplified the main theme of this man's radical honesty which others, those who operated a society based on indifference and cruelty, always took as indifference or cruelty. Masterful directing, photography, and North African locales. One of the best films you'll see in 2026. See more Read all reviews
The Stranger

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Movie Info

Synopsis In French Algeria, Meursault drifts through life and love with mysterious detachment. When he stands accused of murdering an Arab man, indifference is his only alibi in François Ozon's fresh take on Albert Camus's classic novel.
Director
François Ozon
Producer
François Ozon
Screenwriter
François Ozon
Distributor
Music Box Films
Production Co
Gaumont, FOZ, France 2 Cinéma
Genre
Drama, Crime
Original Language
French
Release Date (Theaters)
Apr 3, 2026, Limited
Runtime
2h 0m
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