François Ozon Debuts Albert Camus’ The Stranger at Venice

French director François Ozon has adapted Albert Camus' seminal novel "The Stranger" into a black-and-white film that premiered at the Venice Film Festival and is contending for the Golden Lion award. The story follows Meursault, a detached French-Algerian man living in 1930s colonial Algeria who is put on trial for the indifferent murder of a local Arab man, with the film highlighting themes of absurdity, alienation, and colonial injustice. Ozon's adaptation remains largely faithful to the original text, preserving much of the dialogue, but modernizes the story by contextualizing the political turmoil and giving more depth to the previously marginalized Algerian characters. Actor Benjamin Voisin portrays Meursault, and the film explores the protagonist's emotional detachment and societal alienation against the backdrop of French colonial rule. Ozon expressed that his aim was not to remake the story from its original time period but to reinterpret it with a contemporary perspective, reflecting on France’s colonial history and its ongoing resonance. The film is produced by Gaumont and represents Ozon’s first adaptation of a literary classic, following earlier works based on plays and novels.