Director François Ozon presents a new adaptation ofAlbert Camus' novel with L'Étranger, a drama shot in black and white that transposes the story to Algeria in the late 1930s. The film stars Benjamin Voisin, Rebecca Marder, Pierre Lottin, Denis Lavant, and Swann Arlaud.
Check out the first images in the official trailer:
The soundtrack was composed by Fatima Al Qadiri, known for her collaboration with Mati Diop on Atlantique. Produced by Milan Records, it blends electronic sounds with classical instruments. The album will be released alongside the film on October 29, 2025.
The Stranger
Film | 2025 | 2h00
In theaters October 29, 2025
Original title: L’Étranger
Nationality: France
Adapting Albert Camus for the cinema is a risky venture. With L'Étranger, François Ozon tackles a text reputed to be unadaptable and chooses the path of sobriety: black and white filming in 4/3 format, meticulous direction of the actors, and visual writing focused onthe absurd rather than psychology. Presented in competition at the 2025 Venice Film Festival, the film maintains a rigor faithful to the spirit of the novel.
Set in Algiers in 1938, the story follows Meursault, a discreet employee whose life is turned upside down after a tragic event on a beach. Ozon films this man without emotion, detached from the world around him. The story, made up of insignificant gestures and silences, shows a person who goes through events without trying to make sense of them.
The film was shot mainly in France and Morocco, in settings that recreate a refined Mediterranean atmosphere. The black and white combined with a tight format is not a retro effect: it orders perception. Light becomes a dramatic element, overwhelming on the beach, sharp in the courtroom, revealing a clear but cold world.
Benjamin Voisin embodies Meursault with rare precision: calm diction, vacant stare, simple gestures. Ozon prefers to observe rather than comment. The static shots, slow tracking shots, and minimalist dialogue convey the same idea: the world goes on, but nothing really makes sense. The pared-down editing and muted sound reinforce this impression of suspended anticipation, where everything seems both ordinary and inevitable.
Absurdity permeates every moment of the film. The simplest gestures—smoking a cigarette, bathing, answering a question—become acts of seemingly no importance. The film shows a man who does not believe, does not plead, does not seek to convince. The final confrontation with the priest, then this sentence addressed to Marie: "If you too were dead, I wouldn't be interested in you anymore, that's normal," sum up this worldview: a lucid, almost indifferent view of life and death. This is where the film hits the mark: in its way of filming the absence of explanation, the void accepted as a form of truth.
Presented as a literary drama, the film remains faithful to the spirit of the text: between philosophical reflection and observation of everyday life, Ozon favors the right feeling, slow pace, and clarity of images. This work is aimed at viewers attracted to arthouse cinema, adaptations of classics, and introspective films. It may confuse those looking for a more expressive drama, but it will appeal to those who like cinema that leaves room for silence and thought.
In short, The Stranger gives silence texture andindifference a face. A film with precise and masterful direction, wherethe absurd becomes the true language of cinema.
To go further, discover our selection of new movies for October 2025, this week's releases, and our guide to biopics currently in theaters.
