Opening this week in U.S. theaters, François Ozon's The Stranger is the French director's new version of Albert Camus' classic tale. We have extensive coverage of the director coming up this week -- an interview from Venice 2025, our review from Venice 2025, and a new review -- which makes this François Ozon Week at Screen Anarchy!
We begin with an overview of the director and his work.
Born in Paris, France, in 1967, François Ozon began making shorts in the late 1980s, a remarkably string of more than a dozen films that hinted strongly at his potential, including A Summer Dress (1996), which got a little festival love, and his excellent 52-minute See the Sea, which hit the festival circuit hard in 1998.
Feature films soon followed, starting with the satirical Sitcom (1998), the gritty and twisty Criminal Lovers (1999), and the sizzling Water Drops on Burning Rocks (2000).
The early 2000s showed his increasing versatility, as he broadened the type of material he was directing and varied his visual style to match, through films such as Under the Sand (2000), musical murder mystery 8 Women (2002), and the highly-charged Swimming Pool (2003).
The latter was my personal entry into his work, and it prompted me to try to see everything he had made -- which wasn't easy in those days for a low-income freelance writer -- and keep up with his new films, a challenge that I soon abandoned in light of the prolific director's admirably hard-working routine, though I remember seeing and enjoying Potiche (2010) at a festival screening.
In the 2010s, Screen Anarchy began keeping up with the director's films with increasing regularity. Here are links to seven of our reviews and two of our interviews.
In the House (2013)
The film is now streaming on Kanopy, Fandor, and Cohen Media's Amazon channel.
Our review by Dustin Chang: "It is very hard to do a comedy about writing well. In the House takes on classic storytelling in a similar manner to how Spike Jonze's Adaptation took on screenwriting, without cheeky showmanship or self-referential cleverness. It is a seductive, witty and deliciously naughty piece of filmmaking."
Young and Beautiful (2013)
The film is now streaming on Kanopy and AMC Plus.
Our review by Brian Clark: "Just when it seemed that every single movie about teen girls coming to terms with their sexuality had already been made, here comes François Ozon's Young and Beautiful (orig. Jeune et Jolie), a well-observed, often fascinating exploration of a 17-year-old girl's willful entry into the world of prostitution.
"In some ways, it treads similar territory to Julia Leigh's Sleeping Beauty, but whereas that film maintained a detached, ambiguous tone toward the material, Ozon (Swimming Pool) takes the situation into far more unexpected, emotionally challenging places, thanks in part to a spectacular performance by the, yes, young and beautiful, Marine Vacth."
The New Girlfriend
The film is now streaming on Cohen Media's Amazon channel.
Our review by Kwenton Bellette: "While there are some heavy themes throughout, Ozon has ensured that The New Girlfriend is a comedy melodrama. It is serious, but also heightened and aware of itself, working directly as a strength as this excellent work from the auteur is a completely unpretentious and provocative tale that does not overstay its welcome."
Our interview by Thomas Humphrey: "Mine is a film full of hope. I wanted to build this story like a fair tale. I wanted it to have this happy ending. I know it's very much like a dream scenario, and that the reality for cross-dressers can often be much more complex and difficult. They are often judged by their family and society. But I wanted to give hope."
Frantz (2017)
The film is now streaming on Kanopy, Hoopla, Prime Video, and Metrograph, among others.
Our review by Dustin Chang: "Beautifully nuanced and poignant and still encompassing all the Ozon film characteristics - secrets, sexuality, twisty genre conventions and its searing political undertones, Frantz is Ozon's most accomplished film to date."
Our interview by Dustin Chang: "I realized showing the film to many different audiences, that people were very touched, both old and young. And they were quite concerned about what's been going on. I was quite surprised because it was quite difficult to finance the film - my producer, especially shooting in black and white, the fact it was taking place right after WWI, it wasn't quite easy. But I had the feeling that it could touch people. The history would prove me right."
Our Blu-ray review by yours truly: "A delicate orchestra of grief, Francois Ozon's Frantz is a somber affair, but also an affecting and piercing drama."
By the Grace of God (2020)
The film is now streaming on Kanopy, Hoopla, and Prime Video.
Our Blu-ray review by yours truly: "Though it is not the easiest film to watch under any circumstances, François Ozon's drama endeavors to pierce the veil of secrecy that has long enveloped the Catholic Church and its handling of child abuse allegations. ... It's a subject that could lead itself to sensationalism, but the film stays away from that, remaining thoughtful and measured as it casts its eye upon wounds that remain open and painful for far too many victims."
Summer of 85 (2021)
The film is now streaming on Kanopy, Hoopla, Prime Video, and Metrograph.
Our review by Dustin Chang: "After delving into serious subjects recently with Frantz (WWII) and By the Grace of God (Catholic priests sexual abuse), François Ozon (Swimming Pool, Criminal Lovers, Sitcom) goes back to his roots and concocts a naughty and delicious Hitchcockian summer fling movie based on a 80s British YA novel Dance on My Grave by Aidan Chambers."
The Crime Is Mine (2023)
The film is now streaming on Kanopy, Hoopla, Prime Video, and Metrograph.
Our review by Olga Artemyeva: "On the surface, The Crime is Mine looks decidedly old-fashioned with its theatrical roots (the film is based on a 1934 play by Georges Berr and Louis Verneuil), dusty colors, actual iris shots and the postcard looking Paris of the 1930s which borders on cartoonish, but its meaning and agenda are positively modern."
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