Unknown: Where was Francois Ozon’s movie filmed?

In Albert Camus’ classic The Stranger, the city of Algiers is like a character in its own right. The period in which the action takes place, namely during the French colonization of Algeria, also plays an important role in the story of Meursault, the central anti-hero who is accused of murdering an “Arab”.

François Ozon’s film, which is very faithful to the original novel, keeps the story moving. The adaptation opens with archive images of the city of Algiers before they are combined with fiction.

However, the feature film was not shot in Algeria, but in the city of Tangier in Morocco. For AlloCiné, the director explains his choice:

“I dreamed of shooting in Algeria, but it was impossible. Today, given the political conditions, given the tension between our two countries, we return to Morocco, namely Tangier, which is also a Mediterranean city and has a lot in common architecturally with Algeria. There is a mixture of Western and Moorish architecture.

Black and white allowed us to do a lot of special effects to really create the Algiers Bay.

François Ozon continues: I couldn’t go to Algeria, but there are so many documents, we managed to compare. And then black and white allowed us to do a lot of special effects to really find the Algiers Bay, to find some architecture that we didn’t necessarily find in Tangier. And what was also important was the light. The light from the Mediterranean to Tangier or Algiers is the same.“

Comments collected by Thomas Desroches, Paris, October 9, 2025

Unknown, currently in theaters