OSS 117 : Le Caire, nid d'espions

I just saw this film last night, and I have to say that I loved every minute. If taken in the spirit of a parody of Bond-esquire films, it's truly superior. The true comedy of the film is in its blatant disregard for political correctness. The misogyny, cultural insensitivity, and almost laughable macho-ism of the films of this genre are used for major comic effect. It also calls the illogic and formulaic elements to task, with Agent OSS 117 constantly learning difficult things insanely quick (such as Arabic and how to play a traditional instrument) while missing some pathetically obvious clues. Some of the lines from the film left me laughing for hours after the movie was finished...and I have to say I have learned some...interesting...French vocabulary that would probably have my Professors quite exasperated with me were I to use. All in all, I thought this film excellent. Intensely funny and the first film I've ever seen that truly parodies all aspects of the spy film.

OSS: 117 (2006)

I wish for a couple hours I was French, because I'm sure there were twice as many gags as I could get as an American reading subtitles. Even so, what a funny funny movie. It's not quite as zany as a spoof like "Airplane" (nor quite as funny, which of course is hard to do), but it takes the Sean Connery vintage James Bond film model and really does a parody worthy of 007. And of the franchise, which of course is bigger than Bond, bigger than Ian Fleming could have ever dreamed.

But hold your horses--this is a parody of the real OSS:117. Yes, a French author created a Bond-like spy in the 1950s, and this movie and its 2009 sequel are really playing a double-edged game. They bring the old French spy to life (the original was a French-speaking American, bizarrely enough), and they make fun of him, of Bond, and of 1960s super slick sexist movies all around.

The star here, the Sean Connery of this spoof (he even looks a bit like the Scottish actor), is Jean Dujardin. He's brilliant. He's funny, campy, silly, serious, and subtle about it all. He plays the role with a kind of oblivious self-ridicule that Woody Allen and Peter Sellers were so good at. It's great stuff.

And he's backed up by a strong, if somewhat predictable, assortment of international thugs, beauties, and oddballs. There are shades of "Charade" here as well as the original "Pink Panther" movies. The scoring is amazing, composed with that Henry Mancini flair to a T and recorded with the familiar bright, echoey sound studio fullness of the time. Equally authentic are the opening credits, which were so convincing I had to double check when the movie came out. I was thinking, wow, a lost 1960s gem.

But it's a brand new gem, or almost gem. Time will tell if this will hold up over the years, but it's a kind of must-see now for anyone into Bond films, the 60s, French humor, or just a well made movie with lots of gags. Like the gag where the noisy chickens go silent when the lights go off, and so our hero delights in turning the lights on, and off, and on, and off. Just wait and listen. It'll slay you.

Excellent exercise on multiple plans:

• showing the not yet ended colonialism spirit in France

• more generally the boring mindset of superiority from all western people

• a renewal of the spy and thriller movies: OSS 117 is uncultured and stupid!

The good idea is that, in spite of all these messages, it is a funny film, plenty of jokes and gags, very light and sparkling.

Special mention to Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo.

Definitely worth seeing. Wonder how it will be appreciated in US?

Seems to be a success in France, so probably a next version will come.

This is probably one of the best French movies I had seen in a very long time! This "pastiche" or parody of spy movies is very well made and is going to make you laugh from the beginning to the end. Some references to today's world are very subtle. The whole Maroccan context of the movie is to be understood in light of today's French culture/environment. That said, all the jokes and - seemingly - shocking remarks that could have been understood as such because of this context, are permitted and accepted because this is a parody.

I was told by my sisters who had already seen this movie that I should go too and assured me that I was going to have a great time, and indeed I had! If you liked the old 007 movies with Sean Connery and also like movies like Airplane or Hot Shots, you will be delighted. I just hope this movie is released on DVD in the US... Wait and see.

Jean Dujardin gets Connery's mannerisms down pat: the adjusting the cuff links when entering a club as all the women turn to admire him, the nonchalant straightening and smoothing down of the tie, the swaggering, steely gait. It's uncanny, and you come to realise just how much of Bond in the Sixties was Connery's creation and not really Ian Fleming's character.

The cinematography is a nod to those early films, the movie takes off From Russia With Love and Thunderball mainly. The main joke is how chauvinistic the hero is, not just in terms of sexism but nationalism and colonialism, and how he puts noses out of joint when he is sent to Egypt.

It's not perfect - about 20 mins in it seems a one-joke movie and bits of it remind one of spoofs of the day, of which there were plenty. Morcecambe and Wise's The Intelligence Men had suspect-looking men in fez's following their heroes around too, and that's going back a bit. Unlike Sellers' Clouseau or Baron Cohen's Borat, Dujardin doesn't give his character that layer of realness or genuine pathos - he is too busy perfecting his Connery mannerisms. It doesn't do enough with the credits or a big song, and there's no funny or serious villain, like Mike Myers' Dr Evil or Ricardo Montalban's Naked Gun nemesis, for the hero to go up against.

But the scene where OSS117 wakes up in Cairo one morning had me laughing out loud in the three-quarters empty cinema, and the whole thing looks wonderful, plus you'll never get a chance to see Operation Kid Brother on the screen, and the women are ace crumpet, really hot. It's a Bond spoof without falling into the mad scientist/Ken Adam sets or funny gadgets routine. Throughly recommended.