Music Box Films is set to release their drama THE STRANGER on VOD and digital platforms next month, arriving on May 19th, 2026. The film world premiered in the main competition of the 2025 Venice International Film Festival before launching in US theaters on April 3rd, 2026.
The Stranger is written and directed by François Ozon, based on the 1942 novel The Stranger by Albert Camus. Benjamin Voisin stars in the lead role of Meursault, alongside Rebecca Marder, Pierre Lottin, Swann Arlaud and Denis Lavant.
In the film, 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.
Photographed in sterling, sensuous black-and-white, François Ozon’s new take on Albert Camus’s classic novel of existentialist ennui is a landmark of adaptation, simultaneously faithful to the text and dedicated to discovering fresh perspectives in the margins.
We’ve added the release date to our Streaming Calendar. Check out the film’s official US trailer below.