Meet Hubert Boniesseur de Bath, a.k.a. OSS 117 and France’s answer to James
Bond. However, in this hilarious send-up of an actual series of French spy
thrillers, he also shares some kinship with Maxwell Smart and Inspector Clouseau.
Egypt in 1955 is a vortex of international intrigue, and the French Secret
Service dispatches OSS 117 (Jean Dujardin) to Cairo to investigate
a fellow agent’s disappearance, monitor the Suez Canal and, while he’s at it,
establish lasting peace in the Middle East. Stupid and suave, OSS 117 displays
colonial arrogance when it comes to other cultures, but he loves to laugh and
fight, and he can dance a mean mambo. Bérénice Béjo co-stars
as Larmina, his beautiful Egyptian assistant, who warms up the Cold War in
this irreverent, yet stylish spoof of Technicolor thrillers from the 1950s
and 60s. Cool production design, a jaunty musical score, and Dujardin’s supremely
unflappable moves in the title role, all make for an effervescently silly evening
at the movies. In French with English subtitles. With Aure Atika, Philippe
Lefèbvre. Writer: Jean-François Halin, based on the OSS 117 novels
by Jean Bruce.
Director: Michel Hazanavicius. (France 2006) 99 mins.
Meet Hubert Boniesseur de Bath, a.k.a. OSS 117 and France’s answer to James
Bond. However, in this hilarious send-up of an actual series of French spy
thrillers, he also shares some kinship with Maxwell Smart and Inspector Clouseau.
Egypt in 1955 is a vortex of international intrigue, and the French Secret
Service dispatches OSS 117 (Jean Dujardin) to Cairo to investigate
a fellow agent’s disappearance, monitor the Suez Canal and, while he’s at it,
establish lasting peace in the Middle East. Stupid and suave, OSS 117 displays
colonial arrogance when it comes to other cultures, but he loves to laugh and
fight, and he can dance a mean mambo. Bérénice Béjo co-stars
as Larmina, his beautiful Egyptian assistant, who warms up the Cold War in
this irreverent, yet stylish spoof of Technicolor thrillers from the 1950s
and 60s. Cool production design, a jaunty musical score, and Dujardin’s supremely
unflappable moves in the title role, all make for an effervescently silly evening
at the movies. In French with English subtitles. With Aure Atika, Philippe
Lefèbvre. Writer: Jean-François Halin, based on the OSS 117 novels
by Jean Bruce.
Director: Michel Hazanavicius. (France 2006) 99 mins.