The Stranger

The Stranger is a 2022 Australian psychological crime thriller film written and directed by Thomas M. Wright, starring Joel Edgerton and Sean Harris. Based on the non-fiction book The Sting: The Undercover Operation That Caught Daniel Morcombe's Killer by Kate Kyriacou, and inspired by the murder investigation of Daniel Morcombe, the film follows an investigation of a child abduction case, with an undercover police officer (Edgerton) in a sting operation tasked with getting close to and forming a friendship with the prime suspect (Harris). The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on 18 May 2022, under the Un Certain Regard section. It had a limited theatrical release in Australia by Transmission Films on 6 October 2022 and streamed worldwide on Netflix on 19 October. The film received positive reviews from critics. Plot The police suspect Henry Teague of the abduction and murder of a young teen but lack proof. They use the Mr. Big procedure to elicit a confession while continuing to search for evidence. Undercover police officer Paul Emery introduces himself to Teague during a long bus ride and strikes up a friendship with him. After gaining Teague's confidence and sympathy, Emery introduces him to a criminal acquaintance, Mark Frame. Frame, who is also an undercover police officer, offers Teague low-level work in a supposed criminal organisation. Frame and Emery emphasise that the organisation values honesty above all, and they push Teague to reveal any criminal history that could jeopardise it. Teague admits to having been in and out of jail, culminating in a two-year sentence for assault, but claims to be otherwise clean. The undercover officers portray Emery as having gotten himself into a great deal of trouble, which the organisation clears up through their police contacts. Teague is recruited in helping to get a fake passport and plane ticket out of the country for Emery. Before pretending to leave the country, Emery urges Teague to trust Frame and be honest with the organisation, which he says will protect him. Frame becomes a mentor to Teague, drawing him further into the organisation and introducing him to increasingly influential figures, all of whom are secretly undercover police officers. Teague comes to rely on Mark for companionship in addition to the work and confesses an abstract sexual interest in him. Haunted by the case, Frame has trouble sleeping and becomes overprotective of his young son.