French provocateur François Ozon returns to the spotlight with the first trailer for his latest film, “The Stranger,” a haunting black-and-white adaptation of Albert Camus’ seminal 1942 novel. The film is set to have its world premiere in competition at this year’s Venice Film Festival on September 2.

Reuniting with rising star Benjamin Voisin (last seen in Ozon’s “Summer of ’85”), the director dives into the moral and emotional desert of 1930s Algeria. Voisin plays Meursault, a man disconnected from the pulse of society, whose blank indifference leads to a senseless murder, and a trial that examines not just his crime, but the meaning of his very existence.

Shot in stark monochrome, the film also features Rebecca Marder, Pierre Lottin, Swann Arlaud, and the ever-mesmerizing Denis Lavant. The aesthetic is as stripped-down and brutal as the philosophy it channels, echoing Camus’ own dissection of absurdity, colonial alienation, and the cold machinery of justice.

Produced by Ozon’s FOZ alongside Gaumont, France 2 Cinema, Macassar Productions and Scope Pictures, “The Stranger” marks a return to Venice for Ozon, whose last competition entry was “Frantz” in 2016. International sales and French distribution are handled by Gaumont, who are also premiering Olivier Assayas’ “The Wizard of the Kremlin” at the festival.

Camus’ debut novel, translated into over 75 languages, remains a cornerstone of existential literature, and under Ozon’s lens, its dry philosophical landscape is rendered with cinematic precision. There is no melodrama here, only heat, silence, and a man out of sync with meaning itself.

Following a strong market debut at Cannes, “The Stranger” has already been acquired in multiple territories, with Curzon recently securing rights for the UK and Ireland.

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